The White House is pushing for a meeting with the World Anti-Doping Agency to discuss easier bans on controlling cannabis use by athletes after star sprinter Shaw Richardson was removed from the U.S. Olympic team because he tested positive for cannabis. The meeting was sought through the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, the seat of the founding board of Wader, the international organization responsible for conducting anti-doping in world sports, including the White House Olympics.
The board meeting will be held on November 25, but the ONDCP told the Financial Times that “if possible, the United States will secure the previous discussion on [cannabis policy] within the Wade.” “The purpose was to ask Wada about the policy of restricting marijuana use,” the bureau said, with a time limit for testing and a basis for considering marijuana as a performance-enhancing drug.” Wada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The request comes a week after it was revealed that Richardson tested positive for cannabis at the U.S. Olympics in Oregon. The substance is legal for recreational use in the state, although it was still banned in some elite sports as defined by the promise. Richardson, a former gold medalist in the women’s 100m sprint, was subsequently suspended from the competition for a month, meaning he would miss the Tokyo Olympics, where his expected symbol was the star.
Its suspension has provoked a backlash from politicians and the American people for which some do not consider policy as a principle with modern American law. Nineteen states have fully legalized recreational marijuana use in the past month under the Marijuana Policy Project. Asked about Richardson’s suspension, US President Joe Biden said last week, “Rules are rules.” “It’s a different matter whether it should stay that way.” A: MovieN.org’s petition, which calls for Richardson’s return to the U.S. Olympic team, has garnered more than 560,000 signatures as of Friday.
Two members of the US House of Representatives, Jamie Raskin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, recently called for Richardson’s temporary dismissal of anti-doping officials in the United States and around the world.
