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Bump.

Fannation needs to get this **** sorted out, all this scrambling needs to be fixed.

The Mods don't do anything for months, and then they do stuff that just makes the boards unusable.

Weed is the root of all evil. Given the chance he had, why would you even take the risk ?

Great job laying out the issues, Clouis.


I'll go through your 4 discussion points...

1. Who cares? You're right that most people these days don't view marijuana as any worse than alcohol. But hey, prohibition is still around on the Federal level and in many other areas of government.
But the public doesn't care. Other fighters don't care. Dana and Lorenzo don't care (other than losing a fighter to suspension) and the UFC has an outspoken pot user and advocate as their lead announcer who certainly doesn't care.


2. Weed as a PED? Well, it does have some pain-relieving qualities...but it's more for chronic pain than the acute pain you'd suffer in a fight. I suppose if you got really baked immediately before your fight, you might feel a little less pain in your fists when you're smashing somebody's head, but any advantage like that seems very minimal and would be offset by the physical impairment you'd have.
Weed is also a stress-reliever and sleep aid so for a guy like Nick with an anxiety disorder, I suppose it's a PED for him during fight prep.
Also...Alcohol causes hangovers, weed cures hangovers. So if you're going to indulge in one of them regularly as an athlete, weed is easier overall on the system as long as you're doing a lot of cardio to keep the lungs healthy and can also somehow manage to avoid the snack-craving effects of the weed.

3. Therapeutic exemption? If you want a marijuana license in California (most parts of the state anyway), all you have to do is come up with the money for the "doctor" consultation and then present almost any ailment such as "chronic pain" (no pun intended). For most users, it's basically just a political loophole around the archaic laws. But because weed is still illegal on the Federal level, commissions can't really give exemptions for it.
A presciption for Oxycontin (opiate pain killer similar to heroin) is also easy to get in any state but commissions check your opiate levels because there's no question about it being both a PED (killing pain) and a drug of potential abuse.

4. Fight licenses: There is hypocrisy there, like you say. But at the end of the day, boxing/MMA commissions are about making money for their state by promoting gambling and tourism dollars. The rest is public theater, smoke and mirrors.
They do enough "regulating" to assure a minimal public expectation that the fights aren't fixed (as this would dry up the betting and affect the gates), but they aren't truly concerned with health issues (Look at all the old punchdrunk boxers who continue to get licenses to fight).


At the end of the day, it's a silly thing.
But Nick knows the rules and has been caught before.
At this level, he should just play the game. To be safe, he should be taking at least a month off to detox his system prior to the fight. Then he can smoke all he wants again after the fight is over.

Beautifully explained Yoda, that is the kind of breakdown I was hoping for from you.

QUOTE(#4):

Originally posted 10:25 PM ET  02.12 by JimJ77 Can't make it up

Idiotic. Who gives a rats ass about Weed? Honestly, whats next, someone is going to get suspended for drinking a wine cooler?Also, doesn't he have medical reasons for smoking pot? If he gets suspended for a year for this crap, then I have no hope for this sport. Why is weed even tested for a fight? So stupid.

I agree with most of what you say Jim, although I do think that testing for weed should be done.

It is still illegal in most states, and it is in fact a schedule 1 (or three, whichever is worse) narcotic according to Federal law.

However, if he has indeed been prescribed it by a doctor, then why would he be punished? He should have some available channels to get a therapeutic use exemption, as others do with other drugs that would elsewise be banned.

This doesn't excuse Nick though. He knew this was a a punishable offense, and proceeded with it anyways. What if they had popped him before the event, Josh Barnett style? This could have had serious ramifications, far beyond a simple suspension and fine like he faces now.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 12:13 AM ET  02.13 by Marlins Fan

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about MMA.But I would like to throw in my two cents, because like so many other people I too like to feel as if my opinion matters in some way. So here you are: weed is not a PED. If anything it would slow down your reflexas and reactions. And possibly interfere with the way your brain perceives what's happening, which IMO would only be a hindrance for the pot smoker.I suggest we coin a new term for weed - PID.A performance inhibiting drug.

That reminds me of something that happened at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan.

A Canadian snowboarder (Ross Rebagliati) won a Gold Medal.

After the mandatory drug test, they found weed in his system and stripped his medal.

The Canadian Olympic team then lodged a complaint saying that weed wasn't even on the list of banned drugs (which is wasn't at the time) so they had to give him his gold medal back.

In my mind, they should have given him TWO gold medals for being able to beat the best guys in the world while also baked. Haha.

and now Nevada Commission has released more info....Hearing was scheduled but Diaz must have been too stoned to bother showing up....what a f'king loser

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 12:13 AM ET  02.13 by Marlins Fan

Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about MMA.But I would like to throw in my two cents, because like so many other people I too like to feel as if my opinion matters in some way. So here you are: weed is not a PED. If anything it would slow down your reflexas and reactions. And possibly interfere with the way your brain perceives what's happening, which IMO would only be a hindrance for the pot smoker.I suggest we coin a new term for weed - PID.A performance inhibiting drug.

you know little about weed too....weed acts as a pain killer and a relaxant....both serve as a PED for combat sports and golf....Rickey Williams won the NFL rushing title while getting high all of the time. There is little evidence to show that it inhibits performance...you are confusing the majority of potheads that also happen to be stupid, lazy, and incompetent with capable people that happen to also smoke pot....it's a correlation, no causality...you might as well suggest that a 6'3" guy that weighs 125 lbs and has 3 PhD's sucks at football because being smart makes you bad at sports....basically, if you are a loser that can't play sports, there is a higher likelihood that you will be a stoner but the weed isn't what makes you a loser that can't play sports....nor is attending all of your classes and maintaining a 4.0 in grad school a cause for someone to be bad at sports

QUOTE(#10):

Originally posted 12:24 AM ET  02.13 by YODA

That reminds me of something that happened at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan.A Canadian snowboarder (Ross Rebagliati) won a Gold Medal.After the mandatory drug test, they found weed in his system and stripped his medal. The Canadian Olympic team then lodged a complaint saying that weed wasn't even on the list of banned drugs (which is wasn't at the time) so they had to give him his gold medal back.In my mind, they should have given him TWO gold medals for being able to beat the best guys in the world while also baked. Haha.

they say that at the highest levels of sport, the difference between the best is all mental...smoking a bit of weed and getting rid of any anxiety and the stress of competition can allow someone to compete at a higher level...how many times do athletes screw up because they thought about what they needed to do too much? Icing the kicker in football, for example...if the kicker is stoned, calling a timeout to ice him isn't going to do a damn thing except allow the kicker to grab a drink to get rid of the cottonmouth.