The NBA has officially suspended random marijuana testing for next season, as reported by Marc Stein. The reason, the unusual circumstances of the pandemic: “We have agreed with the NBPA (players union) to suspend the tests and to focus our program on random tests for products and drugs that improve performance,” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass. . With this decision, the North American League intends to reduce unnecessary contacts to avoid a possible spread of the coronavirus and allows players to safely consume possible sanctions.
Marijuana, according to the collective agreement signed by the union and the employer and in force from 2017 to 2023, is a prohibited substance that carries a penalty of five games if there are three positives. In a normal season, players can pass up to four tests to detect this substance.
It is not the first time this decision has been made and you do not have to go very far to find it. During the bubble in the Walt Disney complex in Orlando (Florida) the tests were not carried out to avoid penalizing those players who had consumed during the stoppage due to the coronavirus and avoid, as in this case, unnecessary contact in the middle of a global pandemic. The results were very positive and allowed the players to smoke during their mandatory isolation in Orlando.
“When you think about it, it’s almost inhuman for them not to have marijuana.. These guys are going to need something to get away. Normally over the course of the season, the playoffs, if you have a bad game, you have a bad rotation to lose the game, you can go home and watch your kids. In this bubble situation, you cannot escape bad game. From the point of view of mental well-being, they are going to need vices. If I had to choose, as an owner, I would choose cannabis over taking pills, drinking booze, and getting dehydrated. You will need THC in the bubble, “said former player Al Harrington in an article by journalist Marcus Thompson in The Athletic, in which he sentenced:”The NBA has been in place for years”.
The use of marijuana in the League has been long debated and defended by players and even coaches. “Everyone on my team drinks coffee every day. The boys go out for wine after games or have a drink every now and then. Marijuana should be on the same level“Kevin Durant assured in February 2020, on Showtime’s All The Smoke program. “I feel strongly that marijuana is a much better option than some of the prescription drugs and I know it is helping a lot of people, which is great,” Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in an interview for The Mercury News.
Silver and marijuana
Its decriminalization within the NBA, the only one of the major American leagues that maintains the sanctions, has been a tough workhorse in recent collective bargaining, with resistance from an employer’s association that is gradually opening up that possibility , even with nuances. “I think that to the extent that it has medicinal qualities, we must take it into account in terms of pain relief”Commissioner Adam Silver commented on the matter to Yahoo Sports in 2019.
Although he was cautious: “I think when we change our policy we should be very careful, because clearly we are going to send a message to many young people. And at the end of the day, I think we can all agree that whether or not marijuana is a legal substance, just like alcohol, you still have to teach young people how to use a substance like that properly and responsibly to don’t ruin your life It is a complicated subject ”.
