If the MMA media was asked to undergo random drug testing and face suspension upon positive test results, we’d never bother getting out of bed in the first place. Our mornings would consist of locating the nearest open bag Cheetos and digging through it for breakfast. Our afternoons would be spent contemplating if the Frito-Lay corporation intended for our fingers to get saturated with flavor powder from the Cheetos just so it stains our fingers orange for the rest of the day and makes us want to return to snacking until we wash our hands. Even our evenings would be spent playing video games until we pass out or get evicted from our domiciles. In the meantime, none of us would write articles, conduct interviews, or update our websites and the world of combat sports news would reside in the hands of fans discussing it on twitter. In other words, nothing would change.

The truth of the matter is: Marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug.

A couple of weeks ago I even talked to Keith Kizer, the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) about marijuana and MMA. We went on for over a half hour, and at the end of the conversation my animosity towards him dissipated. In a couple of months you can read all of what we talked about in an extensive and exclusive feature for High Times magazine. It’s going to be worth it, trust me. Even Chael Sonnen had something to say about marijuana and the sport we all love.

This morning I received an email from Keith Kizer letting me know that as of yesterday, the NSAC has officially raised the testing threshold of marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL. That represents a 300% increase, which means you can have 3x more marijuana metabolites in your system before it’s a positive test. something unprecedented in the the industry. From our previous conversation we had a couple weeks ago, Kizer told me to expect this to happen sometime this month, and it seems to be in direct response to the public’s outcry of the nonsensical demonization of marijuana in MMA. Now that the threshold has been raised, fighters could literally smoke marijuana roughly up until a week before their fight — although it’s best to stay off the green, leafy stuff at least two weeks prior to a 150 ng/ML test just to err on the side of caution.

Now Nick Diaz, stop spinning those nunchucks and come back to MMA. It’s safe now. The sport needs you.