The league pulled marijuana off its banned list in the new players’ agreement. In the same document, it banned psilocybin, DMT and ibogaine for the first time.
The WNBA just stopped treating weed like a problem. It picked a new one in the same breath.
Under the long-form collective bargaining agreement, the league and the players’ union executed on May 22, marijuana no longer appears on the list of prohibited substances. Under the old deal, it sat under “Drugs of Abuse.” The substance-list details were first reported by Marijuana Moment.
But on the way to loosening up, the agreement tightened somewhere else. For the first time, it names four psychedelics as banned: psilocybin and psilocin, the compounds in magic mushrooms, plus DMT and ibogaine. Synthetic cannabinoids got added too, including delta-8 THC and its byproducts. So the plant comes off the list while the substances that a growing wellness movement has been championing go on it.
Dropping weed is not the same as a free pass. Players can still be tested if they enter the league’s Drugs of Abuse Program, if they are found under the influence during team or league activities, or if there is a dependency issue. Skip a referred treatment program and the fines start at $300 a day. But the everyday, random “are you smoking” testing for cannabis is gone.
Players Can Invest, With Strings
The deal also spells out money. Players can hold a stake in a marijuana company as long as it stays passive, meaning no management or executive role, and stays under 50%. They can actively promote and endorse CBD products, though if those products come from a marijuana company, they need sign-off from both the league and the union first, and the CBD cannot be tied to a marijuana brand in a way that …
Read More
Author: Javier Hasse / High Times
