Canadian athletes view pot differently
Should it be a banned drug?
CALGARY Canada’s elite athletes are smoking, eating and investing in marijuana. Is a toke before stepping to the start line far off ?
The Canadian government intends to legalize recreational cannabis by July 1, 2018. It’s already legal for recreational use in a handful of U.S. states.
Cannabis, hashish, marijuana, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list, but only during competition.
When labs receive urine samples taken out of competition, they don’t test for those substances, according to the Canadian Centre For Ethics in Sport.
WADA also relaxed the in-competition threshold in 2013 to allow for 150 nanograms per millilitre of urine instead of 15.
An informal survey of Canadian athletes planning to compete in February’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, produced a variety of opinions, ranging from keeping marijuana on the prohibited list to removing it when it becomes legal at home.
“I think it’s pretty proven that it’s not unsafe for you and it’s definitely not performance-enhancing, at least in what I do,” alpine skier Dustin Cook said.
Snowboarder Spencer O’Brien agreed.
“I personally do not smoke weed, but I feel like it’s not a performance-enhancing drug,” she said. “I don’t see any aspect of that that would give somebody a competitive edge.”
Bobsled pilot Kaillie Humphries says she’s never tried weed or hash “and I think I’m the only athlete in the entire world,” but knows of teammates who smoke it and eat it in food as a sleep aid while training.
“You lift at 6 p.m. and you’re wired because you had a big lifting session. You’re not sleeping until two, three, four in the morning,” she said.
But both she and luger Sam Edney agree sliding down a track at more than 100 km/h under the influence of a substance that alters perception and behaviour is dangerous.
Substances on WADA’s prohibited list meet at least two of three criteria: its use has potential to, or can enhance performance; its use presents an actual or potential health risk; its use violates the spirit of sport.
Figure skater Gabrielle Daleman is adamant marijuana should remain on WADA’s prohibited list.
“We should still continue to push for clean sport, fair, and doing everything the way it’s supposed to be,” she said.