NCAA removes marijuana from banned drug list

The NCAA, the highest governing body in intercollegiate sports, has announced that marijuana and cannabis products will be removed from the category of prohibited drugs for the college football postseason and for all Division I championships. The change became effective after the conclusion of the Division Council meeting I from Tuesday.

“The NCAA’s drug testing program is intended to focus on the integrity of competition, and cannabis products do not provide a competitive advantage,” said Josh Whitman, chairman of the NCAA Division I Council and director of athletics at the University of Illinois. “The board’s focus is on policies centered on the health and well-being of student-athletes rather than punishment for cannabis use.”

During the regular season, colleges and schools have their own drug testing policies and standards. NCAA testing and standards — and sanctions — take over in the postseason.

Removing cannabinoids from the list of banned drug classes removes it from a group of drugs that includes stimulants, anabolic steroids, narcotics, diuretics and masking agents and growth hormones.

The decision follows a recommendation by the NCAA’s Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Sports Medical Aspects that each of the NCAA’s three member divisions remove cannabinoids from the list of banned substances.

“We know that previous cannabinoid policies and sanctions have not been an effective deterrent to cannabinoid use,” Deena Casiero, the committee’s vice chair and the team’s chief medical officer at UConn, said in November. “We should be focusing on student athletes who have or are at risk for cannabis use disorders. Random testing at the NCAA championships is not the best way to identify or help student athletes with substance use problems. The best way is to encourage schools to educate and test as part of an established risk reduction strategy in their local premises.”

It also tracks recent federal and state action on cannabis. President Joe Biden last month officially decided to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous substance, a major shift in the country’s drug policy. And earlier this month, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced more than 175,000 pardons for marijuana convictions, one of the largest cannabis clemencies in the country.

This is the second time in two years that the NCAA has changed its testing policies related to cannabinoids. In February 2022, the NCAA raised the threshold for positive tests for THC and recommended that divisions adopt new drug-testing penalties, which urged students and schools to create and adhere to management plans.

The changes come months after the NCAA released a study on student-athlete substance use that surveyed more than 23,000 student-athletes across the country.

Cannabis use among student-athletes increased to 26% of those who self-reported in the survey, up from 22% in 2013 and 25% in 2017 (the survey is conducted every four years). Cannabis use was reported to be highest in men’s sports, at the Division III level, and for those attending schools where cannabis has been legalized for recreational and medicinal use. However, weed use appears to be less common among athletes — according to this survey — than among the undergraduate population nationwide, which is closer to 40 percent with other surveys cited by the NCAA.

That said, as cannabis use has increased, narcotic pain medications have continued to decline—about 6 percent of respondents indicated using prescription narcotic pain relievers, with just under 2 percent admitting to over-the-counter use . About 17% of respondents who reported using cannabis said they took it for medical use; 37% said it helped them with anxiety, depression or stress; and 38% said it helped them sleep.

The NCAA Division 1 Council also approved a number of other changes, including capping the number of football team members who can work with players on the field; removing school restrictions on official visits for the basketball and baseball programs; changing recruiting calendars for football programs; and allowing student-athletes to compete in multiple foreign tournaments with the same school.