MARIJUANA IN SPORT

High Risk, Low Reward

In the world of professional, semi-pro or even varsity sports, bans on
all types of drugs, including marijuana, are becoming stricter.

One negative effect of marijuana is that it slows perception and
co-ordination - two things that almost all elite-level athletes work
towards improving.

This is why bans on marijuana use for elite athletes are useless; if
an athlete wants to perform their best it is doubtful they would take
a substance that could make this more difficult.

Drug testing in sanctioned sports is designed to monitor and fight
doping in all its forms, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency
website. Doping regulations are also designed to regulate drugs
meeting any two of the following three criteria: they enhance
performance, they pose a threat to athletes' health or they violate
the spirit of sport.

Then why is pot listed as a specified substance on the WADA list of
prohibited substances? Pot use is actually shown to reduce athletic
ability because it slows reaction time.

If marijuana reduces reaction time of those under its influence, then
it does not enhance ability but rather reduces it. If enhanced
performance is the key issue, then pot should never be banned.

Why not let athletes smoke pot if they so choose? If someone decides
to smoke pot while in competition, they are really only hurting
themselves and giving their opponent a better chance.

Also, the effects of smoking marijuana only last a few hours,
depending on the amount smoked, though this varies greatly, depending
on the method of ingestion and the amount used.

It is estimated that it would have the greatest effect on sporting
performance for oneand- a-half to four hours.

To drug tests, this doesn't matter because marijuana can stay in a
person's system for about a month - meaning an athlete could smoke 27
days before competing and not feel any effects from it but then test
positive. If a concern for other competitors is in question, then
marijuana can be banned during competition but recreational use on an
athlete's own time should not be relevant.

Rather than focusing on substances that have little, if any, effect on
athletic performance, doping agencies should be concerned with
research and education about performance-enhancing drugs, like
steroids. These are the drugs that enhance performance and are
dangerous to use.

The use of pot by athletes does not need to be monitored any more
closely than pot use by anyone else; in sports, there are much bigger
drugs to smoke out.