Rules were made to be broken. And it’s no surprise “That Girl” may be the reason why one of them changes.
Months after Sha’Carri Richardson wasn’t allowed to participate in the Olympics as the result of a failed drug test — due to smoking weed after she learned her biological mother died — the World Anti-Doping Agency has announced that an advisory panel will decide if weed should remain on their list of things athletes aren’t supposed to have in their bodies. Not alcohol, cocaine or any other form of hard drugs, but weed — a plant that just so happens to relax people if it’s lit on fire. No one understands why in 2021 weed is still on the WADA’s list. But check this out from a recent USA Today report.
WADA puts a substance on its prohibited list if it determines that substance meets two of the following three criteria:
- It enhances, or could potentially enhance, an athlete’s performance.
- It could pose a health risk for athletes.
- It “violates the spirit of sport.”
Weed does none of the above.
This is the part where I could tell you that having a conversation about weed when opioids and fentanyl are the actual drugs dominating the national “drug conversation” seems pointless, as states across the country are changing laws and cannabis is becoming legal while legislation is gradually evolving to lessen the sentences of the people who sell it. I could also discuss the racist history surrounding weed, as thousands of Black and brown people are in prison for selling it while thousands of white people are opening dispensaries and making millions off it — including former Republican House Speaker John Boehner. And if I wanted to, I’d tell you how alcohol does way more damage than weed, yet it’s never on any banned substance lists, even though alcohol was once forbidden during prohibition.
But I’m not going to do that, because if you’ve gotten this far in a story written by me, on a website like this, you already know these things.
I live by the creed that you should do extraordinary things for extraordinary people. And if Richardson is the person who ultimately causes WADA — and broader pockets of society — to change their minds, and rules, about marijuana, then her loss may be the world’s victory. And no matter how you feel about what Richardson has done, or might do in the future, there’s no denying that her presence can’t be ignored.
Besides, when have you ever seen a track star without an Olympic medal at the Met Gala?