The Nevada State Athletic Commission today agreed to move forward on a regulatory project that will explore the possibility of removing marijuana as an anti-doping infraction.
The project will be spearheaded by NSAC Executive Director Bob Bennett, who will research the benefits and drawbacks of a potential regulatory change, consulting with commission doctors, industry professionals in the fight business, and the marijuana community. Bennett will then produce a final report that will be reviewed by the commission.
During a meeting today in Las Vegas, NSAC Chairman Anthony Marnell said the state’s recent legalization of recreational marijuana may have created “a potential conflict” with the current rules and set up a challenge from fighters. He said the commission should get ahead of any potential problems by weighing the public interest against the need to protect athletes’ health and safety.
“We could leave the (regulation) where it is and say, you’re still allowed to do it, but 150 ng/mL is where we feel comfortable,” Marnell said. “All I want to do is be out in front of this and not behind.
“I didn’t want to be in a position where we have fighters before us, because it will come, that this is legal now, so this 150 ng/ml is no longer legal. You can see the controversy coming.”
In 2013 the commission followed the World Anti-Doping Agency in relaxing its rules on marijuana, raising the threshold for a positive from 50 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml, a level considered more suitable for preventing in-competition use, but allowing out-of-competition use.
The change didn’t keep everyone out of trouble, however. Onetime UFC welterweight title challenger Nick Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) found himself before the NSAC on a third marijuana violation, and the commission took an infamously hard stance, suspending him five years before public outcry led to a settlement agreement for 18 months.
As MMAjunkie earlier reported, any formal changes to the NSAC’s combat sports statutes would need to be vetted before being implemented. The last time the commission modified its anti-doping rules, it took more than a year to finalize the changes.
The NSAC’s move also doesn’t give fighters a free pass to smoke pot. UFC anti-doping partner USADA still follows the WADA standard, which means marijuana is banned six hours before an event’s weigh-in and six hours after a fight.
“As a physician-surgeon, I’m not for marijuana, and I’m actually against it for personal reasons,” NSAC Commissioner Dr. J. Daniel Carpenter said. “As a physician for the NSAC, I did not see it as a performance-enhancing drug in any way, shape or form. I want to thank (Marnell) for bringing it to the forefront because we’re going to take some arrows for it. But it needs to be addressed, and hopefully, it can be addressed quickly because of the current conflict in the real world of what’s going on.
“To be lax on that allows the fighters to engage, if they want to go out and get baked, it shouldn’t have to do with us. But if it starts affecting in any way, shape, or form the integrity of the sport, and the health of the fighter, it should be up to the commission to review this and say … what is that limit. That’s going to be a tough one given different weights and physiologies of individuals.”
Also under review via regulatory project is the NSAC’s adoption of the latest version of the Unified Rules of MMA, which were modified at this past year’s Association of Boxing Commissions’ meeting. The changes have caused controversy among member commissions that have vowed not to incorporate them.
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