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During the last week of December, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced that was formally eliminating cannabis from its list of banned substances for athletes. The change in policy, which took effect on Dec. 31, 2023, also involves entering into a partnership with Drug Free Sport International, its sample collection and shipping company.
The UFC also revealed that it was amending its list based on historical findings, despite stating that it was modelling its list of prohibited substances after the World Anti-Doping Agency.
In 2021, the UFC adopted a policy change that protected professional fighters from penalizations over positive THC tests.
In a press release, UFC’s Hunter Campbell stated that the organization’s objective was to have the best, most progressive and most effective antidoping program in all professional sports. Campbell, the organization’s chief business officer, added that the organization would continue independently administering its drug-testing program, which ensured that all UFC athletes competed under equal and fair circumstances. He also highlighted that the organization was proud of the advancements it has made with its antidoping program over the last eight years.
Jeff Novitzky, senior VP of Athlete Health and Performance at UFC, stated that the updated program was the result of years of trial and error by the organization as well as the incorporation of input. Novitzky added that the antidoping policy was a document that would continue adapting and evolving as science supported changes that could further protect athletes that competed in UFC.
As the legalization movement grows across the country, a growing number of sports organizations are moving to amend their cannabis testing policies for athletes. For instance, the National Basketball Association and its players’ union signed a collective bargaining agreement in June 2023 that involved the removal of cannabis from the league’s list of banned substances and laid out rules permitting players to promote marijuana brands and invest in them, with some exceptions.
In July, the New York Media Softball League announced that it was launching a sponsorship deal with Cornbread Hemp, a CBD company based in Kentucky. The idea behind the collaboration was inspired by moves by teams such as the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals as well as Major League Baseball, which have also partnered with CBD businesses.
In September 2023, a National Collegiate Athletic Association committee gave its formal recommendation that divisional governing bodies eliminate marijuana from the banned substances list for college athletes. That same year, sports regulators in the state of Nevada voted to present a proposed regulatory amendment to the governor that would shield athletes from penalties over the possession or use of cannabis in compliance with state law.
The changing attitudes of sports bodies toward cannabis could help to remove concerns that some sections of the society may have had about this substance, and as the uptake of marijuana increases, ancillary companies such as Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (NYSE: IIPR) could do more business with marijuana industry actors looking to meet the growing customer demand.
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