In the NBA, marijuana and its byproducts – including cannabidiol (CBD) – are banned by the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program along with 225 other substances.

That’s despite 33 states legalizing medicinal marijuana use and 11 states approving its use for adults over the age of 21.

Late last year the MLB announced that it would no longer test for marijuana use through the Minor Leagues, aligning with Major League players who already aren’t being tested.

This shift by the MLB was primarily driven by the death of Anaheim Angels player Tyler Skaggs, who died from an opioid overdose in July earlier last year.

So now it’s the NBA’s turn to respond.

Around the same time the MLB made its changes, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked about the NBA’s stance on marijuana.

“One of the things I’ve been talking more about in the past several years is mental wellness of our players,” Silver said.

“Some guys are smoking pot in the same way some guys would take a drink…if they want to smoke pot, whatever, it’s legal in a lot of states. We have no issue with that.”

Silver is more concerned about players who abuse cannabis but at the moment, any player that tests positive to cannabis needs to complete a mandatory substance abuse program.

A second infraction will result in a $25,000 fine, a third is a 5-game suspension and a fourth, a 10-game suspension.

The NFL mirrors the NBA for a first infraction but allows a player to play on a second or third infraction but would do so unpaid, for two or four games respectively.

A fourth infraction in the NFL is a 10-game suspension which is the same as the NBA however the NFL punishment is much harsher, equating to 62% of an NFL season suspended whereas the NBA is only about 12%.

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Cannabis use is rampant in the NBA and a massive part of the culture according to Kenyon Martin, a former 15-season NBA veteran.

He estimates up to 85% of NBA players are using cannabis.

Silver has acknowledged that there’s no competitive advantage with marijuana use so why it remains banned is based more around the stigmas attached to it.

“It’s certainly not a performance-enhancing drug,” Silver said last year.

Former player and 2017 NBA champion Matt Barnes even smoked weed before games throughout his 14-year career and he thinks there’s a deeper marijuana culture than we think.

“The GMs, coaches, presidents [were smokin]. Some of the people that are cracking whips and suspending us are smoking weed,” Barnes said in a Bleacher Report interview.

Barnes is a massive advocate for weed use in the NBA and has his own business interests in the cannabis industry.

“My ultimate goal is to get it legalized, or to be a part of the team that gets it legalized in professional sports,” he said.

Even the Net’s Kevin Durant has business interests in the industry and is an advocate for its widespread use.

“It’s just like, marijuana is marijuana. It’s not harmful to anybody. It can only help and enhance and do good things”, Durant shared on an episode of Showtime’s All The Smoke.

“Everybody on my team drinks coffee every day. Or guys go out to have wine after games,” Durant continued.

“Marijuana should be in that tone…So hopefully we can get past that and the stigma around it.”

Even former NBA power forward Al Harrington is an advocate of cannabis and is a founder of his own marijuana company.

“The day-to-day pain management issues that players deal with can be dealt with through cannabis,” Harrington has expressed.

Harrington believes that about ‘90%’ of players he speaks to accepts cannabis as a whole, and that cannabidiol (CBD) – marijuana’s ‘cousin’ – would be easier for the NBA to digest .. or ingest.

“Something that is all natural and nowhere near as harmful as the stuff that they’re using now.”, Harrington believes.

There is with no doubt a prominent weed culture in the NBA and former and even current players are becoming more vocal and passionate about the topic and the integration of cannabis into the league.

Compared to the NFL, the NBA does have a more open minded interpretation and stance on cannabis, with repercussions for getting caught not as tough as the NFL.

Whether its for mental health, pain management or just to relax, I get the feeling that we’re only one advocating superstar away from a cultural explosion and a cannabis phenomenon in the NBA.