World Athletics President Sebastian Coe Calls For Review Of Marijuana Status, Social Media Slams Megan Rapinoe's CBD Ads

Sebastian Coe, president of the international track body World Athletics, said Tuesday that he supports a review of marijuana’s status as a doping substance in light of the disqualification of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, which he called a loss to the competition.

“It should be. It’s sensible,” Coe said when asked if a rethink was needed about marijuana being on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list. “Nothing is set in tablets of stone.”

AP reported that Coe had asked the independent Athletics Integrity Unit to work with WADA: “You adapt and occasionally reassess,” he said.

Coe, who was present at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, when Richardson won the 100 in 10.86 seconds, is himself a noted track and field athlete. Now a British politician, Coe won four Olympic medals, including the 1500-meter gold medal at the Olympics in 1980 and again in 1984.

Pointing out that in the 2012 London Olympics, cannabis testing levels were relaxed in order to ensure that in-competition use was properly detected and not consumption that took place days or weeks prior to competition. This rule was not in effect when Richardson was disqualified in early July weeks before the Olympics, now underway in Tokyo.

Rules Change

“It’s not an unreasonable moment to have a review of it. The AIU will look at this in the light of current circumstances,” Coe said.

Social Media Dustup As Megan Rapinoe Pushes Her CBD Products

Meanwhile, the Atlantic Black Star reported a brewing social media storm stemming from a recent Forbes article in which Megan Rapinoe, U.S. Soccer Women’s National Team star, discussed how she incorporates CBD — a chemical found in cannabis and hemp— into her daily regimen, while Richardson sits out the Olympics.

In the Forbes piece, "Cannabis Takes the World Stage at the Tokyo Olympics," Rapinoe was very vocal about her consumption of CBD gummies and topical creams made by the CBD company, Mendi - founded by her sister Rachael Rapinoe. A detailed description of products Rapinoe takes to relieve her physical ailments and to “help her mood and mental health” seemed to rub more than a few people the wrong way.

Some Call It A Double Standard, Others White Privilege

In view of Richardson's disqualification, Rapinoe's CBD advertisement has garnered backlash from critics online who labeled the Olympics as “racist” and “sexist.”

“They disqualified Sha’Carri Richardson for testing positive for marijuana, but have these two white women promoting it and talking about using it to help them as athletes,” wrote film critic and journalist Carolyn Hinds, who called the Olympics racist and sexist towards Black women.

Encuentra nuestro contenido en Español en El Planteo:

• Suspensión de Sha’Carri Richardson: ¿Un Impulso para la Despenalización de la Marihuana?
• Entrevista a Megan Rapinoe: Fútbol, Cannabis y Feminismo

Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash