Cannabis

Cannabis are one of the most commonly used illicit drugs and can be found within the dried flowers, leaves or resin of the Cannabis plant. Cannabis may also be known as marijuana, pot, hash, ganja, green or weed. It is most commonly smoked but can also be eaten. Cannabis use is most commonly associated with recreational or social settings but regardless of the environment in which it is taken, if it is found in your system on competition day there are serious consequences. Cannabinoids are listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List since 1 January 2004. Cannabis not classified as a performance enhancing drug, but is on the Prohibited List because the drug is damaging to the athletes health. According to National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC) in Australia cannabis use can negatively impact on a person's sporting performance in a variety of ways. It is known to increase heart rate while decreasing cardiac stroke volume, resulting in diminished peak performance. It can also result in reduced sport performance through slowed reaction time, problems with motor coordination, hand-eye coordination, and perceptual accuracy. Cannabis can affect appetite and food cravings and potentially undermine body mass and nutrition. Use of cannabis could even be potentially dangerous in sports that rely on quick reactions and fast decision-making. In addition, for some people, cannabis use can cause increased anxiety, panic, nervousness and restlessness thus causing disruption to sleeping patterns. Some people may believe that cannabis use makes them sleep better and be more relaxed and less nervous before playing sport. Currently however, no research has objectively demonstrated that cannabis use results in observable increases in performance through relaxing the athlete or improving their sleeping patterns. In the term of being bad for the athlete health, smoking cannabis exposes the lungs to both carbon monoxide and tar which increase the risks of a range of health problems including respiratory tract infections, bronchitis and lung cancer. (Source: National Cannabis Prevention and Information Centre (NCPIC), Australia, ncpic.org.au)