CBD is a drug made from cannabis that has recently been making headlines in sports. Research and players are pointing to this alternative to dealing with injuries and stress.

CBD, also known as cannabidiol, is one of many extracts found in cannabis plants. It makes up almost 40% of cannabis’s composition. While being discovered in the 1940’s, recently there has been renewed interest in the plant and its properties in the medicine and sports world. Many signs point to the drug being helpful in relieving pain caused by injuries or workouts. While still on the rise and in a sort of “testing” period, CBD could prove to be the next big thing to hit the sports world and how athletes deal with pain or stress in their environment. 

Effects of CBD on the Body

One of the main draws of CBD compared to other forms of cannabis like THC is that it does not have any psychoactive effects. Psychoactive drugs are drugs that affect one’s mental state such as emotions or perception, such as alcohol and nicotine. CBD has the distinction of not having these hindering aftereffects of consuming it, which is very helpful for athletes. The effects of THC making people “high” have given CBD a bad reputation, and many experts have gone out of their way to point out the differences in order to prove it can be used in the field of medicine. 

Many athletes, such as Rob Gronkowski have endorsed the use of CBD as a way to deal with the pain that comes with playing demanding sports. CBD can do more than just make pain go away, it has additional benefits that directly affect the physical attributes of athletes as well. The countless hours of rehabilitation, therapy, or just resting while having an injury is a lot for an athlete to deal with. It all encapsules precious time in which an athlete could be doing a number of things, from performing, to training, to acting on sponsorship deals. The less time an athlete spends in rehabilitation the better, as they can get back into form and training faster if their recovery method is successful. 

Where CBD Stands with Sports

CBD has a long and complicated history in sports because it is part of the cannabis family. As of 2018, the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) unbanned the use of CBD by athletes in international competitions. The use of THC is still prohibited however, which is why the WADA stills warns that “athletes should be aware that some CBD oils and tinctures extracted from cannabis plants, may also contain THC and other cannabinoids that could result in a positive test for a prohibited cannabinoid.” 

The unban by the WADA has paved the way for many American sports associations to do away with their cannabis policies as well. 2020 has been a big year for sport policy reforms, and it seems that everyone is getting on the CBD train in some fashion. The NFL and NBA have recently come around and said it will no longer suspend players for testing positive for marijuana, which helps players and coaches alike trying to get their stars back on the field as soon as possible.

The NHL has the upperhand on the entire matter though, as CBD has never been banned because it is not considered a performance enhancing substance. Glenn Healy, executive director of the NHL Alumni Association, even told USA Today he hopes CBD can safely replace opioids for pain management. After decades of medicinal cannabis being banned and players getting suspended for using it to cope with the injuries and pain endured on the job, sports associations are finally looking towards what science says instead of assuming all cannabis is the same. 

CBD Research Results

CBD research, in addition to helping athletes recover from injuries, points towards being able to combat opioid addiction as well. It can help lessen cravings people can develop for addicting drugs like opioids, and become a non lethal alternative. Furthermore, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) conducted a study on whether or not state cannabis laws and opioid subscriptions correlated with each other.

The results showed that states where marijuana is legal, the quantity of opioid subscriptions dropped drastically, contributing to a lower number of deaths by opioids among said states. In this case, CBD does not just help athletes recover faster, but it also helps avoid the possibility of becoming addicted to opioids or other forms of painkillers by introducing a non addictive alternative. The verdict is still out on whether CBD is a good way to combat opioid addiction, but more and more studies are pointing to the same conclusion JAMA’s does. 

Controversies Surrounding CBD

CBD sounds great for dealing with modern day sports injuries, so why is there all this controversy around it if the science checks out? Well first of all it is very hard to only extract CBD from a cannabis plant. Earlier it was stated that CBD only makes up 40% of cannabis extract, and this plays a big part in the complications of the drug. It all depends whether or not it was extracted from a high or low THC concentrated plant. THC can still find its way into CBD products because of the close proximity they are within when being worked on. This exact reason is why a lot of major sports associations used to ban CBD, because it would interfere with anti-doping results.

In a different JAMA study by the American Medical Association, they went over whether certain CBD products were mislabeled because of the amount of THC still left in them. The results were semi alarming in that 69% of CBD products held a different amount than what was specified. On top of this, THC was found in 21% of the CBD products and had enough concentration to produce the side effect of being “high.” In every major sports association the THC threshold is 150 ng/ml, which means if an athlete is tested and it comes back below this number it will not be ruled a positive. The use of CBD is still very much at an athlete’s own risk, as you will not know the exact amount of CBD or THC within what is being taken. 

Taking CBD can be a good solution to a lot of problems that athletes have, without the side effects of other cannabis related drugs. Take warning that CBD products have nowhere near been perfected, and it is still a risk to take them because of mislabeling. Always check if the company has a Certificate of Analysis or COA before obtaining a CBD product. Should a company not have one or dodge the issue, this is a red flag. Lastly, if an athlete should become serious about taking CBD, always talk to a doctor first.