According to an NBA commissioner, a temporary league reform that’s against random marijuana tests for players may become permanent.
Commissioner Silver Adam said that they have decided that given all the stress and pressures the players were experiencing, they don’t have to be Big Brother right now. Silver thinks that the public opinion around marijuana has shifted to a particular extent.
He went on to say that the league will be contacting players who have signs of problematic dependency (not those casually using cannabis) rather than issuing compulsory blanket tests.
Silver said that he’d say the same thing regarding alcohol or other substances.
He made the same utterances during the latest interview with The Sports Daily, claiming that he’s uncertain whether cannabis should be treated separately than other drugs, such as alcohol, that’re legal which players could be consuming and creating problems around.
He added that he recognizes that public opinion around cannabis has changed since these regulations were implemented and this season’s suspension of random testing is an acknowledgement of that.
Silver went on to say that if NBA players were moving from one state to another (from states without prohibitions to states where there are prohibitive measures on marijuana use and possession) the league wants to ensure they’re not trapping their players and enacting rules that will make them vulnerable to the law.
He further added that these statements don’t imply that there’s no concern from the league about cannabis abuse. It’s something the league wants to focus on, especially considering the huge stress that players often experience and the pressure of playing amid the pandemic.
The league originally announced a temporary suspension of marijuana drug testing in early 2020. The players had just completed their season in Orlando’s ‘bubble’ arena during the announcement. This was later postponed to the whole of 2020-2021 sessions after an agreement between the players’ union and the league.
