Indianapolis, IN: A regulatory body of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) supports removing cannabis from the list of prohibited substances.
Last week, representatives from the NCAA Committee of Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports “signaled its support for removing cannabis from the Association’s banned drug list and testing protocols.”
In a press release, the agency explained that the “rationale for considering the change … includes the consensus opinion that cannabis is not a performance-enhancing drug and that a harm reduction approach to cannabis is best at the school level.”
The proposed changes, if enacted, would mark the second time in two years that the association has relaxed its cannabis drug testing policies. In 2022, the Association increased the threshold of carboxy-THC that must be present in an athlete’s bodily fluids in order to trigger a positive test result. It also reduced penalties for those athletes who test positive.
In recent years, both the NBA and Major League Baseball have dropped marijuana from the leagues’ banned substances list. Both the NFL and the NHL continue to drug test some players for cannabis use, but they no longer impose suspensions for those who test positive for it.
A final decision on the matter is expected to come from the NCAA this fall.
Full text of the press release is available from NCAA.