Marijuana icon Snoop Dogg is applauding the National Basketball Association (NBA) over reports that it plans to drop cannabis like it’s hot from the league’s banned substances list for players.
The rapper weighed in on the policy change during an appearance on EPSN’s “Stephen A’s World” last week.
He said that he supported the reform based on the “medical side of it, the health benefits and how it could actually help ease the opioids and all the pills that they’ve been given and the injections.”
“I thought about that side and how certain players have been able to have a beautiful life after sports because of the fact that they’ve been able to treat themselves,” Snoop said, adding that NBA’s move wold align it with other professional sports organizations like Major League Baseball (MLB).
“As long as it doesn’t enhance your skills to make you play better or to give you an advantage, you should be able to treat yourself and to heal yourself,” he said.
NBA’s updated policy will also reportedly allow players to promote and invest in the cannabis industry.
Snoop has long been pushing athletics organizations to adopt lenient marijuana policies, emphasizing that cannabis could serve as a less addictive and dangerous alternative to prescription opioids.
“Through the CBD, through the THC, through the marijuana, through the cannabis, they’re able to find a relaxation and getting the medical treatment that they deserve—without having those later side effects—so I push for that in sports,” he said in 2021.
A growing number of professional leagues have taken steps to enact marijuana policy reforms as more states have moved to legalize cannabis.
In one of the latest examples, Nevada sports regulators are considering amending their rules to formally protect athletes from being penalized over using or possessing marijuana in compliance with state law.
The Chicago Cubs recently became the first MLB team to officially partner with a CBD company, which follows the national organization’s league-wide partnership with a popular CBD brand last year.
MLB has stood out among other professional sports leagues as more willing to respond to the changing marijuana policy landscape. For example, it clarified in a memo in 2020 that players will not be punished for using cannabis while they aren’t working, but they can’t be personally sponsored by a marijuana company or hold investments in the industry.
UFC announced in 2021 that they would no longer be punishing fighters over positive marijuana tests.
Separately, student athletes that are part of the NCAA would no longer automatically lose their eligibility to play following a positive marijuana test under rules that are were recommended by a key committee last year.
The National Football League’s (NFL) drug testing policy already changed demonstrably in 2020 as part of a collective bargaining agreement. (Full Story)