Should cannabis be banned?

Juvenile topic and so is the "Marijuana Use on the Course" thread.  Illegal or performance enhancing drugs have no business in sports or most other workplaces for that matter.  You can get fired at my workplace for having cannabis in your system.  Period.

Professional athletes are role models, and I suspect that the ruling bodies have decided that drug use doesn't fit their image or brand and/or can affect the outcome of the event.  Employers (and probably various sports governing organizations) are limited in what they can tell people to do in their own homes.  However, showing up at work or a sporting event with banned substances is a different matter.

I've always wondered why they test for recreational drugs in PED tests on athletes.  If you're actually stoned then there's an argument to be had over whether it's performance enhancing in golf or shooting, but if you smoke regularly it's detectable for at least a month or more in a blood test.  So you can get banned for having smoke a few days or weeks ago?  That seems dumb.  Athletes have the same rights as the rest of us.  If you live, for example, in the Netherlands, it's legal both to smoke pot and have sex with a hooker.  I for one think it's clear which one of those is deplorable and something you hope someone one of your kids is a fan of doesn't do, but no one's suggesting hiring private investigators to shadow all major athletes to check on whether they do that in their own time.  Unless it's proven without a doubt to be a PED in some sport, it seems like none of IOC's or WADA's business...

Yours is the juvenile, or perhaps naive, response.

It's foolish to start and end the discussion with, "That's just how it is. Period." Whether or not you like it, reasonable people disagree about whether various substances should or should not be illegal, treated as performance enhancers, etc. It's far too serious and subtle a discussion to just accept that the status quo in the United States is the correct legal approach and move on. It's certainly not "juvenile" to discuss the effects of the drugs and ask whether the policies concerning them are sensible.

In response to the OP, in the article I read about the judo contestant, it pointed out that the powers that be (I've forgotten which body it is) was considering removing the ban on marijuana use, except in "sports that require aiming or a steady hand." That was something I had never considered before, but I think it makes some sense. I think recreational drug use is the private business of the athlete, especially if it's an international organization and the various countries do not agree about the legal status of the substance.

However, it's a legitimate (if perhaps quixotic) goal to prevent performance enhancement. Whether the enhancement is provably real, or suspected, I think it's ok---preventing the appearance of foul play is important as well. So I think banning it where it might be beneficial, but otherwise ignoring it strikes a reasonable balance.

Regarding the illegality, while I don't think the sport governing bodies should enforce their own rules about recreational drugs or activities, I do think it would be reasonable as an ethics matter for them to expect their competitors to obey the laws wherever they are. Thus, if a competitor is found guilty of a crime, it would be reasonable to ban him on the grounds that the sport does not wish to be associated with criminals. However, I see no reason that drug crimes should be singled out here, and I think it's important that the penalties be contingent on a finding of guilt, not merely an accusation or suspicion.

Not really a juvenile topic considering the penaltys for using.

Prohibition didn't work for alcohol and will not work for marijuana. It's not a performance enhancer unless the sport is eating so banning an athlete is silly. How can you deny a person an activity that hurts no one other than the person involved, and that's assuming marijuana is harmful. Ban alcohol and legalize marijuana IMO.

Why would I need a PI to learn that the athlete is a druggie? There are simple tests for that.  Surely you are not against consensual sex...

This has nothing to do with athlete's rights. There are numerous drugs that athletes can't take that normal people can. As far as proven without a doubt, there are very few drugs in that category. HGH sure hasn't been proven. There are numerous studies that suggest anabolic steriods are a wash (and some saying huge gains).  Can I imagine a drug that promotes relaxation helps in certain sports? You bet. Heck read the thread about pot on the course for examples of people who think it improves their game.

And I just liked

Marijuana is a controlled substance where possession is illegal without a prescription in most countries, but not all.  I'm not getting into a debate on whether is should be or not, or why alcohol isn't.

There are a number of substances on the list that you and I can get at the local GNC but would cause an athlete to be suspended so it's not just illegal substances they are screening for.  My guess is they felt it was easier to take the list of controlled substances and add to it the other drugs that could be used to enhance performance.

In terms of the UFC and MMA some of the controlled substances are permitted, such as TRT, if the athlete suffers from a condition that warrants its use and discloses their use along with having a valid prescription from a licensed doctor in advance of testing.

I don't know if the IOC makes exceptions for athletes that have specific conditions that would require the use of banned substances, but if they do then I'd think the use of marijauna could be reviewed if there was a medical condition that warranted it's use.  Until the rules changes athletes know there are ramifications for using banned substances and should be aware of what they put into their body.

No, in fact he should get an extra medal if he was competing while high and won.

I think you've found the solution to the performance enhancing drug quagmire. We'll introduce a bonus modifier for the use of performance degrading drugs.

If I remember correctly, Sonnen didn't disclose he was on TRT until after he failed the NSAC test.  He then had to provide all the proof and justification that it was legit but they said he violated the policies for not disclosing that he was on TRT before the testing process.

The IOC is within their rights to adopt their own rules independant of the laws of each country.

Kind of of the topic of golf but Weed (IMO) should stay on the PED list for MMA for one simple reason.  It is a very strong bronchodilator, although it seems contradicotory at first thought.  If a fighter were to get super stoned and then work on his cardio (which many fighters struggle to get to an elite level) it would be very beneficial to him.  Its actually prescribed medically for asthma in some cases believe it or not.

On the topic of golf, I have a lot of experience with weed, and golf.  And for me personally I play much worse, I can't stayed focused on performing my best and I eventually stop caring.  But I do believe it would help some people (when used sparingly) perform at a higher level.

pun intended

I feel that if Alcohol is legal, so should Marijauna be. I have seen far worst affects on peoples bodies from booze than pot. Pot MAY(its debateable, really) cause lung cancer if smoked in excess for years on end.

Alcohol destroys the whole body. Its eats away at all your organs, and especially the lungs, liver, heart and kidneys. It also causes the  destruction of both white and gray matter in the brain, which is far worse than pots affect on it, which only kills regenerative white matter, causing no real damage.

The 'stunned' affect caused by excessive marijauna use will go away in days after discontinuing your use of the drug. The effects of alcohol, for the most part, is completely permanent, especially, again, the heart, liver, kidneys, and stomach.

I would also argue that Cigarettes, which are also legal, are also far worse than smoked THC, and close to alcohol in its harmfullness.

I'd be happy to sign up for that testing. For science, of course.

In sports like MMA, there's a real danger of someone getting hurt if they take PCP before the match and can't feel pain, since the sport consists of beating the hell out of each other. But that's an extreme example. Even smoking weed could cause trouble for the person using it as a hallucinogen and hurting reaction time, but it's not like they smoke it right before the match. It's not in your system after a matter of hours except residual traces for testing. Smoking weed a week before the games really isn't going to affect your performance. It shouldn't be allowed during the event, but once the effects wear off, who cares?

The only sports to allow it in the Olympics during competition is the high jump. If you compete in the high jump while actually high, you get a special medal and a free unlimited plate of nachos.

This is the age old argument for pot legalization, but you are talking about alcohol ABUSE. Limited to a drink or two a day, alcohol can actually offer a health benefit, while any amount of regular smoking (pot or cigs), is detrimental to your respiratory health.

You don't have to smoke marijuana. Eating is an option as well as using a vaporizer.

If it weren't illegal and therefore expensive, nobody would smoke joints. It's the best and cheapest way to get the most out of your weed if you don't care about your health, while stuff like brownies and vaporizers don't get you as high and cost a lot more at a time. Nobody would inhale hot carbon monoxide and tar if they could get high otherwise for the same price. Justifying the purchase of a 400$ vaporizer, which you can't get caught with, is really hard for broke people and especially those who don't smoke often anyway, which is true of many people.

Plus it destroys your sense of taste, which is really sad considering the other side effects.