Report: Nevada State Athletic Commission Won't Punish Fighters for Marijuana Use

The Nevada State Athletic Commission voted to no longer discipline fighters and boxers for using cannabis, according to ESPN. 

The new policy begins Wednesday and it is not retroactive to cases that have not yet been formally judged. Edward Magaw, Nevada's senior deputy attorney general, gave the NSAC the freedom via a memo to decide whether or not it would discipline fighters for marijuana. 

The policy change — according to Magaw — will take place immediately and will be later noted in the commission's regulations. With the move, NSAC joins the Florida State Boxing Commission in not punishing its fighters using marijuana.

The NSAC will continue to hold marijuana tests over the next six months for data purposes. However, after six months, the commission will determine if data collection will continue moving forward.

Two UFC fighters — Gillian Robertson and Misha Cirkunov — were given suspensions from the NSAC due to them testing positive for cannabis in their March 2021 fights in Las Vegas. Robertson was suspended for 4.5 months and fined $2,000 while Cirkunov was suspended for six months and fined $4,000.

When fighters initially tested positive for marijuana, the NSAC suspended them for up to nine months and fined them a percentage of their purse for positive in-competition drug tests for cannabis above 150 nanograms per milliliter. The UFC, with its anti-doping program with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, stopped punishing fighters for using marijuana in January.

Fighters can only receive discipline for the use of marijuana if they are under the influence on the night that their respective fight takes place, according to UFC Senior Vice President of Athlete Health and Performance Jeff Novitzky. 

While some states are deciding to not test fighters for marijuana use, others like California and New York still test fighters for cannabis and have small penalties for positive tests. 

In other sports, such as track and field, sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson accepted a one-month ban from the USADA for testing positive for marijuana and was not named to the U.S. Olympic team.