Over the past decade, medical and recreational marijuana has become more widely accepted, both culturally and legally. But in sports, pot can still get a bad rap.
Recreational weed has been the source of disappointment and disqualifications for athletes — like Sha’Carri Richardson, a U.S. sprinter poised who became ineligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for marijuana.
But that may soon change for college athletes.
An NCAA panel is calling for the association to remove cannabis from its banned drug list and testing protocols. The group, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports, said that testing should be limited to performance-enhancing drugs and found that cannabis does not enhance performance.
Each of the three NCAA divisional governance bodies would still have to introduce and adopt the rule change for cannabis to be removed from the association’s banned drug list, the NCAA said in a statement released on Friday. The committee asked the NCAA to halt testing for cannabis at championship events while changes are considered.