Blowing Smoke in the Face of the CSAC

One of the best competitors is our sport has been pulled from a scheduled title fight due to his use of a prescription drug. That’s right, Nick Diaz, who basically ducked the California State Athletic Commission’s preliminary drug screening to avoid testing positive for marijuana, will not be able to fight or earn a living. This distresses me, and despite the majority of my fellow journalists claiming that “rules are rules” something should be done about this.

Really, what is the argument against an athlete using cannabis in preparation for a fight in California? In 2007 Diaz was stripped of his career defining win over Takanori Gomi, because the Nevada State Athletic Commission ruled that the drug gave him an unfair advantage. In their estimation Diaz was so high it increased his pain threshold and therefore enhanced his performance. The NSAC’s reasoning is sound, albeit a tad hypocritical considering there are several NSAC busted roiders with enhanced W’s blotting their career records.

This test that Diaz failed to appear for was eight days before the fight. According to the NSAC’s ruling, if the marijuana is out of his system by the time he competes he won’t be gaining any apparent advantage. So, once again I ask why does it matter to the CSAC if cannabis was in his system multiple days before his scheduled fight? One thing we know is that it is not a question of legality.

For those that do not know, medical use of cannabis is legal in the state of California, and it has been since 1996. If a physician feels that a patient would benefit from medical marijuana than their use is entirely legal. According to Diaz’s manager Cesar Gracie, the fighter has a prescription to treat hyperactivity, so therefore the CSAC has no ground to bust Diaz for use of an illegal substance.

So let’s look at the facts. The NSAC has declared that cannabis only improves performance if the athlete is under its influence during competition. The state of California has legalized the medial use of marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation. Yet, for some reason we have a top welterweight fighter literally running to the mountains to avoid being caught using a legal substance that can in no way improve his performance. The CSAC needs to do whatever it has to do to ensure that this does not happen again, and they need to do it quickly.