The NBA will stop testing cannabis after coming to an agreement with the National Basketball Players Association.
Under the new agreement the NBA players who smoke cannabis will not need to fear being sanctioned by the league as the NBA will remove cannabis from their drug-testing program.
The NBA first loosened their rules for cannabis during the Covid-19 pandemic by agreeing to not randomly test players for marijuana. This was then extended for the 2021-22 season.
Since the rules were relaxed, there has been a large push to make it permanent. Kevin Durant voiced his approval of cannabis, as did Steve Nash who simply replied, “I’m from Vancouver, bro,” when asked whether he smokes marijuana.
There is more to the new agreement than just removing cannabis from the banned list, though.
Players have been given permission to make investments in a variety of industries. These include the NBA and WNBA as well as sports betting companies and cannabis companies.
These last two investment opportunities are still relatively new with sports betting becoming more legal whereas before it was strictly forbidden in most states.
The NFL is another sports league that has changed their cannabis policy recently, but they have not stopped testing for the drug totally.
NFL players are subject to one cannabis test a year at the start of their training camp. If they fail, they receive a fine, but there is no lengthy suspension.
Both the NHL and MLB allow their players to smoke cannabis with no fear of strict punishment. In the NHL, high levels of THC are treated as a health matter akin to alcoholism. In the MLB, players are allowed to smoke cannabis but not to be sponsored by cannabis companies.
Whether this new NBA decision will influence the NFL to remove cannabis from the banned substance list remains to be seen.
Cannabis remains illegal at a federal level within the U.S. but with further states legalising the drug, it would be unsurprising if this continued for many years into the future.
