Cynthia Calvillo is the latest athlete to test over the limit for marijuana metabolites, and she is facing up to a 12 month suspension from the United States Anti-Doping Agence (USADA), as well as potentially an even longer suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC).

The frustrating thing is, weed shouldn’t even be banned. None of its properties would qualify it as a performance enhancer if the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) didn’t add a very specific section to its prohibited list just for cannabis. The vast majority of other drugs with similar properties aren’t prohibited at any time, including alcohol, but marijuana is singled out for special treatment.

For a drug to be prohibited by WADA it has to satisfy two out of three criteria. These criteria are:

1. It has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance.

2. It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete.

3. It violates the spirit of sport.

You may be sitting there thinking those categories are extremely broad, and almost everything we eat, drink or take as medicine qualifies as worth banning under those criteria. You would be right. There is a potential health risk in every drug and supplement, and the “spirit of the sport” criteria means whatever WADA wants it to mean. There’s no actual scientific reasoning underpinning much of the prohibited list, and no consistency or logic around why some drugs are banned and others aren’t.

The UFC’s anti-doping partner, USADA, has an FAQ about why marijuana is banned, including claiming it has performance enhancing benefits. Let’s take a look at what USADA argues are the performance enhancing benefits of marijuana.

“Cannabis can cause muscle relaxation and reduce pain during post-workout recovery.”

Cannabis isn’t banned out of competition, which means if this is a benefit that is worth banning, it should be banned at all times. This sort of logical inconsistency is going to show up a lot.

If muscle relaxation and reduced pain during recovery counts as performance enhancing, why are no non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen, which accomplish similar things, banned? How about carisprodol, also known as soma, a powerful muscle relaxant? It’s legal in- and out-of-competition as well.

In fact, none of the 50+ NSAIDs or dozens of muscle relaxers are banned in- or out-of-competition, despite them accomplishing something USADA claims is a performance enhancing benefit. Clearly WADA doesn’t consider this a benefit worth banning.

“[Cannabis] can also decrease anxiety and tension, resulting in better sport performance under pressure.”

Drugs which reduce anxiety are known as anxiolytic drugs. No other drug is banned on the prohibited list for this reason. Benzodiazepines aren’t banned, anti-depressants aren’t banned, azapirones aren’t banned, not even alcohol is banned. If reducing anxiety counts as performance enhancement, why is there no section for anxiolytics on WADA’s prohibited list, and why is no anti-anxiety medication at all banned in any combat sport under WADA’s jurisdiction?

More importantly, if the anxiety-reducing effect is a problem, why is CBD—which is responsible for the anxiety-reducing effect—not prohibited, but THC, which is responsible for increasing anxiety, is prohibited?

“In addition, cannabis can increase focus and risk-taking behaviors, allowing athletes to forget bad falls or previous trauma in sport, and push themselves past those fears in competition.”

The claim that cannabis increases focus references back to a study conducted by WADA. The evidence in this study that cannabis increases focus?

“Health professionals have encountered athletes including gymnasts, divers, football players and basketball players who claim smoking cannabis before play helps them to focus better.”

That’s right, USADA states as a fact that cannabis can increase focus, and its evidence is that some athletes said it does. The very next sentence of the study USADA cites says,

“Much additional research is needed to determine the effects of cannabis on athletic performance”

Is it really too much to ask that WADA perform that research into the effects of a substance on athletic performance before banning it? Or at any time in the two decades afterwards?

What we’ve discovered so far is that these “performance enhancing benefits” that allegedly exist only count as performance enhancing when marijuana causes them. No other drug is banned for providing the listed benefits.

Now let’s take a look at what USADA argues are the health risks of marijuana.

“A number of studies show that marijuana use may cause a variety of health risks. These risks include negative effects on respiratory, cardiac, and mental health. Frequent marijuana smokers can experience respiratory problems including more frequent acute chest illness and a heightened risk of lung infections. Marijuana use raises the heart rate by 20-100 percent shortly after smoking which can increase the risk of heart attack. Chronic marijuana use has also been linked to mental illness including paranoia and psychosis.”

Every physical health effect listed here applied to nicotine as well. In fact, nicotine tends to have much worse effects on respiratory and cardiac health. Here’s a study listing the harmful effects of nicotine, which massively outweigh those of marijuana.

As an aside, did you know nicotine also acts as both an anxiolytic and anxiogenic drug, just like marijuana? Nicotine isn’t prohibited by WADA in any concentration.

In addition, the acute effects of marijuana use are gone long before the carboxy-THC metabolites used for detection are. In fact, the site USADA links to specifically says the elevated heart rate only lasts for up to 3 hours after use. There’s also no evidence that this mildly elevated heart rate is dangerous while exercising, or even that it persists during exercise. Caffeine also elevates heart rate—doing so differently while exercising than while stationary— but isn’t banned and is, in fact, used as a supplement by millions of people as they exercise.

In terms of mental health effects, there isn’t a single category on the WADA prohibited list for drugs with psychoactive effects. This concern, once again, only seems to apply to marijuana, and no other drug.

Lastly, USADA explains why marijuana violates the “spirit of sport”

“Negative values and ethics included in sport, and beyond sport, are considered in this criteria. Due to the illegal nature of marijuana in most countries, the use or abuse of marijuana does not exhibit the ethics and moral judgment that upholds the spirit of sport.”

Once again, this argument doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. There are many schedule I substances which aren’t prohibited. Things like LSD, DMT and mescaline aren’t banned. In fact, not a single psychedelic drug is banned, despite them being listed as schedule I drugs under UN conventions.

These are also drugs which are illegal in most countries. But they’re not banned. And fighting while having an acid trip would probably be a whole lot worse than fighting 12 hours after smoking a couple of joints. We don’t know for sure because of how unethically dangerous it would be to let someone fight while having an acid trip.

Something people bring up that USADA hasn’t is the idea that marijuana decreases your perception of pain. There’s limited evidence that marijuana actually decreases perception of acute pain, but even if we accept that premise as true, WADA doesn’t ban painkillers. It doesn’t think an analgesic counts as a performance enhancer.

A very limited number of painkillers are banned under the class of “narcotics” but that list specifically excludes most painkillers, and even many opiod-class drugs such as codeine and tramadol. In short, not feeling as much pain isn’t considered a performance enhancer for other drugs, so it shouldn’t for marijuana either.

We find ourselves in a familiar position here. Marijuana, for some reason, is treated differently from other drugs. We can conclusively demonstrate that there are drugs with similar effects and health issues which aren’t banned. We can even demonstrate that there are drugs which demonstrate almost every property of marijuana—with worse health risks—that aren’t banned. Looking at you here, alcohol.

The thing is, this isn’t just a marijuana problem. These logical inconsistencies and errors litter the prohibited list. Lyoto Machida was banned because a substance with absolutely no anabolic effects—as admitted by WADA—is listed as an anabolic agent. There are substances which have almost identical effects depending on dose, like codeine and oxycodone, where one is banned and one isn’t. I could write a series of ten articles just like this one and still not list all of the problems.

When approached for comment about the inconsistencies in the list, WADA responded,

“The process is the same for any substance/method that is added or removed from the Prohibited List.

The List’s annual revision process is led by WADA, beginning with an initial meeting in January and concluding with the publication of the List by 1 October. This is an extensive nine-month consultation process that includes WADA’s List Expert Group gathering information; circulating a draft List amongst stakeholders; taking their submissions into consideration and revising the draft; followed by, review by the Agency’s Health, Medical and Research (HMR) Committee. The HMR Committee then makes its recommendation to WADA’s Executive Committee that approves the List during its September meeting.

The List is harmonized across all sports and a substance may be considered for inclusion if it meets two of the following three criteria: it has the potential to enhance sport performance; it represents a health risk to the athletes; and it violates the spirit of sport.

It is important to note that the List is not static but evolves based on new scientific evidence; therefore, WADA maintains dialogue with athletes, administrators, scientific experts and other stakeholders and closely follows the literature in this area to obtain new evidence and information as it becomes available.”

USADA provided this comment about the article after publication:



“We are always open to improving our efforts in anti-doping, through discussions with the UFC, athletes and all of those involved in administering an independent program. WADA is solely responsible for setting the Prohibited List, and USADA is just one of about 600 stakeholders globally who contribute comments to the process. The Prohibited List provides consistency necessary to administer a global program like the UFC.”

The list as exists isn’t fit for purpose, and the UFC has the choice to update their anti-doping policy to use a different list; a list that is rooted in fairness, and isn’t riddled with logical inconsistencies; one that is developed with the athletes as stakeholders who give their own input into what should and shouldn’t be banned.

Would almost every fighter be fine competing against someone who has smoked weed? Then remove weed from the prohibited list. People don’t want to fight steroid users? Ban steroids. Other sports manage to come up with these kinds of athlete-negotiated prohibited substances lists, and it’s about time the UFC do the same thing.

This article was updated to include a comment from USADA after publication.