by Sharelle Burt

April 3, 2023

All The Smoke: New Deal Will Allow NBA Players To Use Marijuana Without Being Penalized

It looks like NBA players are getting the green light to smoke weed.

The Insider reports players in the National Basketball Association will no longer be tested for marijuana. The tentative collective bargaining agreement would be a seven-year deal between the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) and will include a stipulation that marijuana will be removed from the drug testing program and players will no longer be penalized for using it. NBPA used Twitter to announce what was at stake, saying, “Specific details will be made available once a term sheet is finalized.”

There is no secret that professional basketball players, both current and past, engage in marijuana usage. Players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Allen Iverson, both Hall of Famers, have been advocates for the legalization of marijuana. Phoenix Suns star, Kevin Durant, told David Letterman during an interview he started smoking marijuana when he was 22. ‘For me, it clears the distraction from your brain, it’s like having a glass of wine,’ he said.

Tamika Tremaglio, NBPA executive director, says their first priority is to protect the players, on and off the court. “Since day one, the goal of the NBPA in this negotiation was to protect our players, enrich their lives on and off the court, and establish a framework that recognizes our players as true partners with the governors in both the NBA and the business world at large!”

According to Outkick, Mike Bass, a spokesman for the NBA, says under this deal, the league would now “focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse.”

Back in 2020, the league stopped testing for marijuana usage during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no word on when the pandemic would end, the NBA then extended that policy through the 2021-22 season.


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