“The cut-off level for a positive test has been increased for the Sochi Games, allowing for some recreational use prior to the Olympics.”
Most appreciated…
It’s long been understood that many Olympic officials enjoy the hunt for cheating athletes, and take great pride in cracking down on any Olympian who might seek to gain advantage by hitting the Roid juice. So far, all is quite on the Eastern front of the 2014 Winter Olympics, and no athletes have tested positive for PED drugs at the Sochi games.
But as marijuana legalization around the world becomes the topic de jour, Olympic officials have given an understanding nod to the very real problem of dealing with one substance in particular: Pot.
According to reports in the Globe And Mail; “Technically, marijuana is on the World Anti-Doping Agency list of banned drugs, which governs events like the Olympics, because officials consider it to be performance enhancing and a violation of the “spirit of sport.” But in recognition to the increasingly relaxed attitude toward the
drugplant around the world, the cut-off level for a positive test has been increased for the Sochi Games, allowing for some recreational use prior to the Olympics.The new threshold for the active ingredient in marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, has been increased from 15 nanograms per millilitre of urine to 150ng/mls. Officials say that means an athlete who smoked some weed before the Olympics, or inhaled second-hand smoke, wouldn’t likely test positive in Sochi. Someone who failed the new test would have to be “a pretty dedicated cannabis consumer,” WADA officials have said.”
Assumption are often made on whether marijuana benefits or burdens the athletes performance – it depends on who you ask? But most agree that hitting the bong, blunt, or joint before a heated competition could hardly help. Additionally, most would also acknowledge that smoking weed will ultimately lead to reduced stress, faster recovery times and a host of other potential advantages.
To be clear, WADA currently uses three criteria for drug inclusion on their list of banned substances; enhancement of performance, risk to health and any transgression against the spirit of games. Unfortunately, WADA claims that Marijuana falls under this last heading, which is an ambiguous and murky notion that includes the broader question of integrity, and morality … highlighting a “respect for self and other participants.”
While some rules on smoking pot have been loosened, the IOC and WADA have pumped up other rules. The World Anti-Doping Agency have increased “the penalty for serious drug users to a four-year ban from competing, up from two-years.”
#Marijuana_Olympics
