Rules changes for Olympics / Whistler to sell medicinal marijuana
Photo: Sports Images for USA TODAY
It’s been 15 years since Ross Rebagliati won snowboarding’s first Olympic gold medal at the 1998 Winter Games — and then nearly lost that medal after he tested positive for marijuana.
Since then, the drug has become an integral part of Rebagliati’s life. Next month Rebagliati will open a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Whistler, British Columbia, called “Ross’ Gold.” The Canadian has also become a public face for pot-smoking athletes around the globe.
“Anytime somebody gets in trouble for weed I’m the guy the media calls,” Rebagliati, who lives outside Whistler, told USA TODAY Sports. “I went on NBC to defend (Michael) Phelps for smoking responsibly. I told them, Hey, it’s zero calories, zero fat!’”
Now 42, Rebagliati believes that changing attitudes toward marijuana — it’s now legal for medicinal purposes in Canada and 14 U.S. states — justifies the drug’s removal from the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.
Like cocaine and heroin, cannabis is banned during competition by WADA, which oversees drug testing worldwide in Olympic sports.
WADA recently amended its rules on cannabis, raising the threshold for a positive test from 15 nanograms per milliliter to 150 ng/ml. In 1998 at the Nagano Games, Rebagliati recorded a level of 17.8 ng/ml, and argued the test resulted from second-hand smoke, which he still says. Ben Nichols, a spokesperson for WADA, said the raising of the threshold is meant to catch only athletes who smoke during the period of a competition. The drug isn’t prohibited out of competition.
“Our information suggests that many cases do not involve game or event-day consumption,” Nichols said. “The new threshold level is an attempt to ensure that in-competition use is detected and not use during the days and weeks before competition.”
Raising the threshold level to 150 nanograms per milliliter means that an athlete would have to be a “pretty dedicated cannabis consumer” to test positive, according to Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).
Last year four athletes in the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s pool tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the primary ingredient in marijuana. That’s a small percentage of the 2,776 in-competition tests the agency conducted. But one of the athletes, wrestler Stephany Lee, was kept off the Olympic team after testing positive at the Olympic trials.
USOC chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky declined to be interviewed for the story but released a statement that said the USOC is committed to clean competition. “Additionally, we respect WADA’s decision-making expertise and processes – they decide what is banned and what thresholds to apply and we work to ensure that U.S. athletes are appropriately educated,” the statement read.
Although marijuana isn’t viewed to have obvious performance-enhancing qualities, one of the reasons it’s on WADA’s list in the first place is because of the drug’s possible effect during competition. For example, you wouldn’t want a bobsledder driving down an icy track while impaired, said Dr. Matt Fedoruk, USADA’s science director. He adds that the the definition of performance enhancing drugs shouldn’t be limited to “making you stronger and faster and being able to jump higher. It’s how it affects some of the other parameters that are really important like pain or confidence or some of the things that are a bit more difficult to measure or define analytically.”
Athletes sanctioned by the USADA for marijuana generally receive suspensions ranging from three months to a year, depending on the athlete’s case and if there was a past violation and whether the drug was coupled with other banned substances. A three-month suspension can be deferred if an athlete completes an education program.
The International Olympic Committee originally banned drugs like marijuana and cocaine because of their illegality, and because they violate the “spirit of sport.” WADA, created in 1999, follows three criteria in establishing its list of banned substances: performance enhancement, danger to an athlete’s health and violation of the spirit of sport.
Society’s attitudes toward marijuana may have contributed to the timing of WADA’s change, St. Pierre said. He points to Colorado and Washington passing legislation last year to legalize the drug for recreational use.
“So they kind of ask the question ... if we really don’t believe overtly that this is causing people to game the system by developing greater athletic skills, shouldn’t we really revisit this,” St. Pierre said.
“It’s kind of hard to imagine that cannabis should be thrown into that mixture (of banned drugs) unless it is still viewed as a moral turpitude,” he added. “Society doesn’t seem to view it anymore as a moral turpitude.”
Attitudes toward the drug vary around the world. “It’s a global prohibited list,” Fedoruk said. “One country doesn’t have the last word per se on inclusion of substances. Globally there’s been some pressure from various stakeholders to address what is the appropriate threshold that you would catch use in competition only of cannabis. I think the change was to try to reflect that more accurately.”
Full article here
bout time 
Your telling me it was illegal?
triple cork revert cone pull
I just can’t (and especially so recently after seeing Crash Reel) understand why anyone doing extreme sports would want to alter their reality 
there is too much at stake.
I just can’t (and especially so recently after seeing Crash Reel) understand why anyone doing extreme sports would want to alter their reality
there is too much at stake.
Marijuana hardly alters reality. Are you saying anyone participating in extreme sports shouldn’t drink alcohol either?
Performing under the influence is another matter, but occasion recreational use outside of the sports is no worse than drinking alcohol in moderation, in my opinion.
Performing under the influence is another matter, but occasion recreational use outside of the sports is no worse than drinking alcohol in moderation, in my opinion.
I was going to specify competing only.
But then I was thinking training too.
but occasion recreational use outside of the sports is no worse than drinking alcohol in moderation, in my opinion.
100% agree.
If I was an athlete during the Olympics there is no way I would be in a situation where I would even get affected by passive smoking.
I think Alcohol give s you an alter sense of reality - its why I drink it!
I’m not sure what the situation was when he got caught in the 1998 games, but marijuana can be detected in a urine test for days, even weeks, after the effects have worn off. Training/competing under the influence I won’t comment on, but responsible use away from the risks is pretty harmless in my mind. And let’s not forget, marijuana has been proven to help with numerous disorders and diseases. Personally, I think alcohol creates more problems in society than marijuana. Actually, I feel very strongly towards that.
Yeah I agree Rider.
Don’t want to get into the social debate about it. Just as bad a politics IMO!
Please note I am not judging anyone at all. I think there is a a big difference between judging and not understanding someone.
And I just said i don’t understand it!
All good. 
If I was an athlete during the Olympics there is no way I would be in a situation where I would even get affected by passive smoking.
In a lot of snow towns thats like saying “im not leaving my room until the olympics are over”
I’m not sure what the situation was when he got caught in the 1998 games, but marijuana can be detected in a urine test for days, even weeks, after the effects have worn off. Training/competing under the influence I won’t comment on, but responsible use away from the risks is pretty harmless in my mind. And let’s not forget, marijuana has been proven to help with numerous disorders and diseases. Personally, I think alcohol creates more problems in society than marijuana. Actually, I feel very strongly towards that.
Could not agree more. Performed autopsies for 5 years and not one death attributed to weed (not even as a secoundary cause), yet alcohol was responsible for an innumerable amount. Strictly from a medical standpoint, alcohol causes a hell of a lot more probs, not to mention the impact on society.Weed also doesn’t seem to come with the issues of aggressive behaviour you get with alcohol. But the gov can tax the shit out of it so hence why it’s legal. Truth, if i ever had kids, i would be much more inclined to smoke a joint with them when they were an adult then have a beer. But again, just my opinion. And I am a stoner from waaayyyy back 
And I am a stoner from waaayyyy back
And I love ya!
And I am a stoner from waaayyyy back
And I love ya!
haha back at ya hon! i should say, functional stoner
that’s the thing hey, would never judge my drinking buddies, as long as you are able to handle your shit. and let’s face it, after living in whis for 4 years, i would not have had any friends if i took a hard line approach 
Pot is helpful in many sports, there are physiological boundaries as well as physical to overcome.
People metabolize differently - some will have it out of their system in days, others 4-6 weeks.
I’m glad the rules have been adjusted for Olympics.
Many people don’t realize how legal pot is in Australia. Selling it on the other hand is very illegal.