The Doggy Bag: Overtime at the Lab Edition

Nick Dia z is at the forefront of changing attitudes about marijuana in MMA. | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com

The NAC raised their marijuana threshold from 15 ng/ml to 150 ng/ml and Nick Diaz failed his pre-fight tests at 300 ng/ml. No one is surprised and no one cares even though Diaz says he knows how to “cleanse.” Is Diaz exceeding 300 ng/ml and no one caring a sign that the stigma of marijuana in MMA is weakening or is it just another unprofessional Diaz act? I can't see too many other fighters who use responsibly failing that threshold. -- Tim from Alberta

C.J. Tuttle, associate editor: I’m not going to judge Nick Diaz more if he’s moved on from the traditional way of smoking pot to taking dabs of concentrates or whatever accounts for his elevated levels. It’s all relative. The stigma towards the illegality of pot is weakening nationwide, let alone in the sport of mixed martial arts. If Diaz wants to get blown out of competiton, whether it’s recreationally or to help him train, that’s his perogative. Is it professional? Of course not. But I don’t think that Diaz is suddenly worried about his professionalism or lack thereof.

Now as far as the Nevada Athletic Commission goes, I think its decision as a governing body to up the threshold is progress. As we have seen lately, the MMA landscape has much bigger fish to fry.

In the end, a fighter should be able to choose how he or she handles their lives when outside of the Octagon. Whether it’s cocaine, marijuana or alcohol; if a competitor wants to make those concious choices, that’s on them.