Source: (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images Sport.)
INDIANAPOLIS–The NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports wants to remove cannabis from the Association’s banned drug list and testing protocols.
Following a 2022 Summit on Cannabinoids in College Athletics the NCAA has concluded that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that school’s should focus on a harm reduction approach similar to alcohol.
Final action on removing cannabis from the banned drug list is expected in the fall. The issue was referred to the committee, which met in Indianapolis this week, by Divisions II and III.
The rationale for considering the change was largely informed by the December 2022 Summit on Cannabinoids in College Athletics and includes the consensus opinion that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that a harm reduction approach to cannabis is best implemented at the school level. Additional rationale included:
-Focusing on testing for substances that provide an unfair advantage by enhancing athletic performance.
-Shifting toward a harm reduction philosophy for cannabis, similar to the approaches taken with alcohol.
-Realigning toward institutional testing and how that testing supports/enhances campus efforts to identify problematic cannabis use.
-Educating student-athletes on the health threats posed by contemporary cannabis and methods of use.
-Identifying and explaining relevant harm reduction/mitigation strategies to those student-athletes who choose to legally consume cannabis.
