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(AP)

The NCAA is mulling a proposal to reduce the penalty for a student-athlete's positive marijuana test from a full-season suspension to a half-season, according to CBSSports.com.

The site's senior college football columnist, Dennis Dodd, reports that the idea, which is likely to be approved, reflects the association's view that marijuana use is not performance enhancing.

Dodd writes:

We've come a long way since simple possession of pot meant a multiple-year jail term. In considering the lessened ban, the NCAA used some significant language. "Street drugs are not performance-enhancing in nature, and this change will encourage schools to provide student-athletes the necessary rehabilitation."

Rehab instead of suspension. That's a reflection of the nation's changing mores. Marijuana is still illegal in the majority of states but decriminalization is coming. That doesn't mean you have to agree with it. It means that placing pot in the same category as a steroid doesn't make sense.

One makes you bigger, the other makes you want to attack a bag of Cheetos.

Dodd writes that it remains up to colleges to determine how to respond to athletes who test positive for cannabis use.

Still, the proposal is a significant one, writes Dodd, who put it this way: "Without saying it out loud, the NCAA's relaxed standards seem to be reflecting society."

Also worth your time this morning: Oregonian senior political reporter Jeff Mapes' story on the status of New Approach Oregon's marijuana legalization initiative. The group plans to begin collecting signatures Thursday to qualify for the fall ballot.

Liz Kaufman, the veteran political consultant running the campaign for New Approach Oregon, said Wednesday that she believes canvassers will be able to quickly collect the needed 87,213 signatures in advance of the July 3 deadline.

"There's not a lot of explanation involved" in describing the measure to voters, said Kaufman. "We don't see a problem in qualifying in plenty of time of time."

Mapes also has the story on a major donation New Approach Oregon recently reported.

-- Noelle Crombie