March 29, 2024  ⦿  

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NBA to permit players to advertise, finance, and consume cannabis

The National Basketball Association and its players association have reached a ground-breaking collective bargaining deal that will allow players to invest in and promote cannabis businesses.

According to The Athletic sports media site, the tentative agreement would also permit players to consume marijuana given that the substance would be removed from the league’s drug testing regimen. The agreement must still be approved by the union and team governors. The proposed collective bargaining agreement was confirmed by the National Basketball Players Association.

The organization released a statement saying that “specific details will be made available once a term sheet is finalized.” NBA and WNBA teams, according to The Athletic, would provide players with a new investment possibility under the proposed labor agreement.

The potential arrangement would represent a significant endorsement for the marijuana industry and open up a fresh stream of capital for marijuana businesses, which have been having trouble finding money due to a limited funding market.

The proposed seven-year pact would also be a first for the NBA, which in the past fined players for using marijuana and disallowed them from taking part in sponsorship or business opportunities related to the drug.

That hasn’t stopped a growing number of former NBA players from entering the cannabis industry, including Shawn Kemp, a marijuana retailer in Seattle, Chris Webber of Players Only Holdings, Carmelo Anthony, an investor in the California cannabis brand Leune, and Al Harrington, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Viola Brands.

Harrington recently discussed the similarities between basketball and marijuana during an appearance on NPR.

He remarked, “Sports definitely heals.

“Sports are the kind of thing that draws our country back together whenever it feels like it is going through something.

“I have the same thoughts about the cannabis plant as well. I really believe that the cannabis plant is a natural healer and a community builder.

Is the pro sports landscape changing?

Professional sports leagues have been relaxing their once-zero tolerance stances on marijuana as an increasing number of states have legalized it for medical and adult usage.

In recent years, the NBA ceased conducting random cannabis drug tests and instead only checked for the illegal substance when there was good reason to believe it was there. If a player tested positive three times in a succession, they would be suspended.

The National Football League gave $1 million to study on cannabis and pain relief last year. The first official cannabis sponsor of the Major Baseball League was Charlotte’s Web CBD, a company based in Colorado.

Following the discovery of hash oil-containing vape cartridges in her luggage by Russian officials, WNBA star Brittney Griner was imprisoned there last year.

Despite the fact that NBA cannabin is still banned on a federal level in the US, the White House labeled the player as having been “wrongfully detained.”

Through a prisoner exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, Griner was released in December.

NBA change reflects the general public

The former NBA drug policy, according to Paul Haagen, co-director of the Center for Sports Law and Policy at Duke University, was developed to dispel the myth that basketball players took recreational drugs.

He explained via email to TOMORROW420 that if the rumors are true and cannabis is removed from the list of prohibited substances in the new (collective bargaining agreement), “it would constitute a belief by the League that public attitudes toward cannabis have changed enough that it is no longer a sufficient issue for the League that it is worth any continued conflict with the players over it.”

Haagen claimed he hasn’t seen any indication of the players union advocating for the move on behalf of the players.

“It seems more likely that the League believes that continuing to test for cannabis and to otherwise restrict players in relation to it, both created unnecessary conflict with the players and may even have made the League seem out of touch with changing social norms,” he added.

Additionally, according to Haagen, there are “particularly strong reasons for the NBA to decide not to be part of those efforts” because cannabis prohibition has disproportionately negatively affected people of color in various regions. Harrington has previously stated that it was critical for players to repeal the ban.

The Cannabis Entrepreneur and Former NBA Player made a prediction in an earlier interview with the sports and culture online show The Shift, which was aired on Twitter on Saturday, that the ban would be lifted because so many players are already using marijuana.

“I think it’s very important for the players, I think with this next collective bargaining agreement that’s coming up in the next year or so, I think it’s going to be a very big point that the players are going to push across the line,” he said on The Shift.

“The majority of gamers now openly use. I never anticipated seeing gamers enter dispensaries, but I have.

The most well-known example is perhaps Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns.

NBA cannabis Kevin-Durant
NBA cannabis Kevin-Durant

On the Netflix program “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman” in May, Durant—who has a content deal with the Weedmaps cannabis company based in California—discussed marijuana myths.

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