August 11, 2009, at 9:21 pm
Most of the time that athletes fail drug tests, there is no saying sorry. They try, they fail around in the wind for a while, and they end up insulting our intelligences with claims of stupidity and naivety. However, for the first time in recent memory, we may have a case where a failed drug test may have a decent reason behind it.
Nick Diaz recently failed to show up for his drug test for his August 15th title fight against Jay Hieron. As a result, he has been pulled from the fight and replaced with Jesse Taylor, who is best known for flipping out after qualifying for the final of season seven of The Ultimate Fighter.
The reason that Diaz didn’t show is that he was sure that he would test positive for marijuana. However, it’s just not that simple, as MMA Weekly can tell you:
On Monday, Diaz’s manager, Cesar Gracie, said his fighter had an informal agreement with former CSAC executive officer Armando Garcia that precluded random drug testing. Diaz, a resident of Stockton, Calif., currently holds a medical marijuana license under the state’s Compassionate Use Act of 1996 and Medical Marijuana Program Act. Garcia departed the agency last November.
“They changed it without any notification,” said Gracie. “No one had any time. The old guys were doing things based off of California law, and I knew California law didn’t change. He’s licensed… it’s legal. They’re own legal team came out with a ruling that said (compassionate use was allowed). Then all of a sudden they’re saying we’re doing drug tests, and cannabis is included, it’s not just performance enhancers. To flush it out of his system, it takes 10 days, and we don’t have that.”
It’s not the first time Diaz has come under fire for his marijuana use. In April 2007, the Nevada State Athletic Commission stripped him of a victory over Takanori Gomi at Pride 33 due to high levels of the drug in his system. Last March, he was stricken from a Strikeforce co-promotion with Elite XC when he reported his use of the drug on a pre-fight medical questionnaire.
Hmmm…This is interesting. Diaz has the right to use marijuana medically. How you deny the right of someone to take their medicine? Someone I was talking to about this compared this to not allowing someone to use their inhaler because technically, it’s a steroid.
More importantly, it’s not like he would have tested positive on fight day. He was in the process of flushing it from his system, and since the fight is still a few days away, he would have passed his test. Diaz chose not to take the test so he wouldn’t be suspended one year for a positive test. Instead, he will just miss this fight.
Despite the fact that I don’t personally partake, I’ve said plenty of times before that I think that pot should be legal. Moreover, Nick Diaz should be tested on the 15th, and if he passes, he should be allowed to fight.
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