UFC raises testing threshold for marijuana, NSAC panel considers similar move

LAS VEGAS – In standing true to their stance on the regulation of cannabis use in the sport, UFC officials have decided to raise the testing threshold for marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL – a mark the World Anti-Doping Agency also recently deemed sufficient.

UFC Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Marc Ratner revealed the company’s decision during today’s meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission’s Steroid and Drug Testing Advisory Panel, which took place in Las Vegas.

“When we self-regulate around the world, we are going to go the WADA standard of 150,” Ratner said. “So we’re starting that immediately.”

The UFC often acts as its own regulating body when competing in foreign territories lacking an official sanctioning organization. Such was the case at March’s UFC on FUEL TV 8 in Japan, where Alex Caceres tested positive for marijuana metabolites following his decision win over Kyung Ho Kang.

Ratner told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission – or Comissao Atletica Brasileira de MMA (CABMMA) – which regulates UFC events in Brazil, has also agreed to the same standard and will make the change at next week’s UFC on FUEL TV 10 event in Fortaleza. Brazilian commission officials later confirmed their decision.

The goal of the change is to make a more concerted effort to catch marijuana users who are competing under the influence of marijuana rather than those who have taken the drug in the days or even weeks before a fight and are left with the metabolite in their system.

WADA recently made the same change to their code, suggesting that “the change to the threshold will mean that athletes using the substance in-competition will be detected” rather than athletes who use marijuana in an out-of-competition setting, when the drug is not deemed a prohibited substance.

Prior to Ratner’s remarks, the NSAC Steroid and Drug Testing Advisory Panel spent 40 minutes discussing its position on marijuana use in the sport. While the committee has yet to develop an official recommendation for the NSAC to consider, preliminary talks seem to indicate the group intends to also suggest raising the commission’s testing threshold to 150 ng/mL.

“It could be 10 years from now when the commission will say it’s not the right number, or two years from now, because I can easily see where that would change,” panel member Dr. James Nave said. “Maybe it’s 400. … It’s a different ballgame now. Society is different and everything is different.”

The state of Nevada, which in 2000 approved the possession and usage of medical marijuana, is currently considering a law that would provide patients with a legal method of purchasing their medicine by explicitly legalizing dispensaries throughout the state. It’s just one further sign of a rapidly changing stance on marijuana use throughout the U.S.

Ratner, who stood before the NSAC’s panel in March to encourage it to take a softer stance against marijuana, today applauded the progress that has already been made.

“I want to commend the committee,” Ratner said. “This goes along with the UFC’s thinking, as well as my own, that we’re moving progressively to the future, and times are changing.”

The NSAC’s Steroid and Drug Testing Advisory Panel also discussed potential suggestions for revisions to the commission’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs, including testosterone and steroids. The committee is expected to draft an official recommendation in the next few weeks in hopes of bringing those to the full commission in July.

Among the changes being considered are lowering the acceptable level of an athlete’s testosterone-to-epitestosterone levels from 6-to-1 to 4-to-1, the addition of testing for human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), recommendations to require a hematologic passport (or hematocrit) and the requirement for out-of-competition tests to include both urine and blood samples.

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(Pictured: Marc Ratner)