Dana White Feels Drug Testing Would Lead to Unnecessary Positive Marijuana Results
The president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship series has said that he is unsure of implementing a widespread drug-testing policy because he feels a large percentage of fighters would test positive for marijuana.
Dana White, the outspoken president of the UFC, has said performance enhancing drugs could be found, but at the same time if a year-round random drug-testing system was implemented it could lead to UFC fighters being penalized for testing positive for marijuana.
"Forget about PEDs … If we get into this system that we're talking about where we would randomly test these guys, do you know how many guys would probably test positive for marijuana? It would be probably off the charts," White told Yahoo News.
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"Everybody thinks that if you did this random testing you'd catch so many guys on PEDs … No. You'd catch more of the guys on marijuana. That's where you'd really bust a lot of guys. ... We have 475 guys under contract and probably 400 of them would be out with marijuana," White added.
While performance enhancing drugs carry an immediate nine month suspension, White insists that a fighter should not be penalized in the same manner if they tested positive for marijuana.
"I do not think the penalty should be the same for taking marijuana as it is for [using] performance-enhancing drugs," White said. "If you randomly test them and then [the results] came out, you'd get the exact same suspension [for using marijuana] as you do for using PEDs."
Fighters who test positive for marijuana must serve a six month suspension for a first time offense.
Currently, all UFC matches are regulated in the U.S. by the state athletic commissions of the states where the fights are held. When a fight takes place in Canada it is regulated by the provincial government where the fight occurs.
