Sha'Carri Richardson: Cannabis Community Expresses Support And Logical Response

The cannabis community and its supporters came out swinging when Sha'Carri Richardson was suspended for one month following a positive marijuana test.

And they’re not alone.

Countless policy advocates, businesses, physicians, athletes, even Nike Inc NKE. announced it would stand behind Richardson and “continue to support her through this time.”

The 21-year-old who wowed Americans with her record-setting 100-meter dash at the U.S. Track and Field trials in Oregon last month has garnered sympathy and encouragement that stretches far beyond the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

“Athletes like her endure enormous amounts of stress to their bodies and minds as they strive to reach the optimal levels of excellence needed to compete. She chose a plant over pills — what a brilliant choice of a holistic alternative,” Dr. Chanda Macias, chairwoman and CEO of Women Grow, said in an email.

Richardson’s possible disqualification from the Olympics underscores the outdated policies that may end up keeping the fastest woman in the world from representing her country on a global stage for consuming a plant that is legal for adults in Oregon, the state where she lives, trains and consumed cannabis in her own time.

The suspension also underscores the legal chaos created by the patchwork of state-by-state laws governing cannabis.

“These inconsistencies force people to be stuck in the middle, navigating unclear rules and being faced with lifelong consequences,” Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said.

WADA’s Outdated Rules: According to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), drugs are banned if they meet two out of three criteria: enhance performance, pose a health risk or violate the spirit of sport.

Cannabis has been on WADA’s prohibited substance list since 1998, though it is only prohibited in competition, which Richardson was not.

“Unfortunately, conventional drug screening can only identify the presence of past marijuana use — which may be indicative of exposure some days, weeks, or even months beforehand,” NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said in an email. “In other words, these tests are more about identifying those who may choose to consume cannabis in their off-time to relax rather than they are about identifying athletes seeking an unfair competitive advantage.”

Performance Enhancing? Hardly: There are no studies that show marijuana as a performance enhancer, explained Dr. Peter Grinspoon, Harvard Medical School instructor and cannabis expert, which is why more and more professional sports teams are no longer testing for it.

“It is so ironic that now they are using that argument when in fact all these years there has been been very little scientific research done about the benefits of cannabis,” Grinspoon told Benzinga about this case. “Cannabis research was essentially prohibited so no one really knows where the US Anti-Doping Agency came up with these standards. Cannabis meets none of them.”

Grinspoon called the decision to suspend Sha'Carri Richardson a blatant attempt to uphold the outdated stigma against cannabis.

“This is pure stigma and a perfect example of how the war on drugs, the war on people is seeping into every corner of society. It has nothing to do with science or helping people … and the optics couldn’t be worse.”