Nevada regulators have officially adopted a rule change that will protect athletes from being penalized for using or possessing marijuana in compliance with state law.
While the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) voted to send the regulatory amendment to the governor last year, they were also required to go through a separate rulemaking process to codify the policy, submitting it to the legislature’s Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) in May.
With that process completed, the commission—which regulates unarmed combat sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts within the state—voted on Tuesday to formally adopt the revised language.
However, there are some additional steps that need to be taken before the reform is fully enacted. The amended rules will now go back to LCB for another review to ensure that any changes meet legal requirements. Then the proposal heads to the legislature’s Legislative Commission, comprised of six members of the Senate and six members of the Assembly, who will decide whether it should be officially enacted.
NSAC has already informally adopted the policy going back to 2021, which it’s empowered to do under state statute, and has been waiving penalties for professional fighters who test positive for THC.
While the amended regulations approved on Tuesday still say that the commission adopts the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) list of banned substances for athletes—which continues to include marijuana following the international governing body’s scientific review in 2022—the revised language carves out an exception for cannabis for fighters in the state.
The regulation says that “the possession, use or consumption of cannabis or cannabis products will not be deemed an anti-doping violation, notwithstanding the laws of the jurisdiction where the possession, use or consumption may have occurred.”
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Professional athletics organizations at multiple levels have been reassessing and reforming cannabis policies in recent years amid the state-level legalization movement.
For example, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently voted to remove marijuana from its banned substances list for Division I players.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced last December that it is formally removing marijuana from its newly modified banned substances list for athletes, also building on an earlier reform.
However, ahead of a UFC event in February, a California athletics commission said they could still face penalties under state rules for testing positive for THC over a certain limit, as the state body’s policy is based around WADA guidance.
While the NFL and its players union agreed to end the practice of suspending players over marijuana or other drugs as part of a collective bargaining agreement in 2020, it has continued to fine players over positive THC tests—a policy that has been challenged in federal court by one player who was repeatedly penalized over his use of a synthetic THC medication he was prescribed to treat anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain.
Meanwhile, two in three Americans feel that Olympic athletes should be able to use marijuana without facing penalties—a higher percentage than those who say the same about alcohol, tobacco and psychedelics, according to a recent survey.
This gets at a longstanding debate, with international organizations such as WADA maintaining the cannabis ban, even as institutions such as the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) push for reform.
In August, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said it was “disappointing” that WADA has maintained the cannabis prohibition based on what he considers a misguided justification.
“I think we should all just be open and upfront about marijuana’s lack of performance-enhancing benefits,” Tygardt said. “We’re not in the recreational drug policing business. We’re here to prevent fraud in sport and cheaters in sport.”
WADA did carry out a review into its marijuana policy at the request of USADA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) following the controversial suspension of U.S. runner Sha’Carri Richardson, who was barred from participating in the Olympics in 2021 after she tested positive for THC. Richardson said she used cannabis to cope with the recent passing of her mother.
USADA said at the time that the international rules on marijuana “must change.” The White House and President Joe Biden himself also signaled that it was time for new policies and congressional lawmakers amplified that message.