Olympics must update drug policy

On June 10, Sha’Carri Richardson finished the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.72 seconds, the sixth-best finish in the women’s 100-meter all time. With her finish, Richardson qualified for the Tokyo Olympics this summer and was favored by many to compete for the United States’ first gold medal in the 100-meter in 25 years. Now because of a positive test for marijuana during the trials, those dreams are gone as she was disqualified from competing in the Olympics.

Hopefully Richardson gets another chance in the future to compete for a spot in the Olympics. By then, the Olympics will hopefully have gotten rid of their outdated rules banning marijuana use during the trials.

Now, Richardson knew the rules when she was running to qualify for the Olympics and so did every other athlete. However, such an offense does not give her an unfair advantage over her competitors and should not warrant her being disqualified from the Olympics. There should not even be a punishment in the first place because the Olympics’ rules regarding marijuana use during competition do not make sense.

Marijuana is banned during trials for the Olympics because it is listed as a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency. In order to be listed as a prohibited substance by WADA, the substance must meet two of three criteria: If they enhance performance, pose a health risk or violate “the spirit of the sport.” WADA stated that marijuana meets two of these three criteria. However, the arguments that marijuana meets these standards are weak at best.

WADA argues that marijuana poses a health risk because athletes who smoke it “potentially endanger themselves and others because of increased risk taking, slower reaction times and poor executive function or decision making.” Now this reasoning makes marijuana sound like the opposite of a performance enhancer that WADA claims it is. While it is debatable whether marijuana does endanger athletes, which many former professional football players would argue it doesn’t as they’ve claimed to smoke before every game of their career, Richardson’ sprints are not the sport that would require quick decision making in order to keep everyone safe.

WADA argues that marijuana is a performance-enhancing drug because of a 2011 research paper that says the substance can be a performance enhancer for some athletes and sports disciplines. However, 10 years of research have happened since then and at best, the research has yielded mixed results in support of WADA’s position. There is evidence that marijuana can help athletes relax and focus but there is evidence that it can negatively affect hand-eye coordination, concentration and endurance.

A recent research study from the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine in 2018 did not find evidence that marijuana could be used as a performance enhancer. One of the authors of this research study is Dr. Alan Vernec, who is currently the medical director of the WADA, so even members of the WADA know that there is not conclusive evidence that marijuana can be a performance enhancer. With the WADA not updating their rules to reflect their own medical director’s findings, Richardson is left to suffer from the WADA dragging their feet and updating their policy to reflect the information they have.

If WADA and the Olympics were to update their policies and allow athletes to use marijuana during competition, it could be good for the athletes. Not only could it aid their recoveries, but it could also help them deal with the stress of being an elite athlete on the world stage.

Richardson says she used marijuana to cope with the death of her mother. Losing a parent is difficult, especially for a 21-year-old. While there may have been more constructive ways for her to deal with her grief, there were also plenty of worse options as well. So to be punished for finding a way to deal with the loss of her mother that does not hurt anyone is just cruel. Also, it’s worth noting that the use of marijuana is completely legal in the state of Oregon, where the Olympic Trials were held, meaning Richardson did not break a single law.

However, none of it seemed to matter to WADA and the USOC.

So, since she will not be heading to Tokyo this summer, hopefully Richardson uses the time to focus on her mental health. And hopefully the next time she tries out for the Olympics in a few years, she and other athletes will not be under threat of the Olympics’ and WADA’s outdated rules.