UFC
Dana White doesn't think Nick Diaz has a defense with NSAC on marijuana, says "it's illegal, you can't do it"
Mar 28, 2012 - 2:05:53 PM Dana White doesn't think Nick Diaz has a defense with NSAC on marijuana, says "it's illegal, you can't do it"

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Nick Diaz is set to appear in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission in the coming month for a disciplinary hearing after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites for his UFC 143 bout with Carlos Condit.

His camp will be presenting a defense that testing positive for metabolites shouldn't constitute as a positive test because it only proved that he had taken marijuana leading up to the fight, but couldn't determine how close to the fight it was. Further, they argue that based on guidelines from the World Anti-Doping Agency - whose standards are supposedly followed by the NSAC - medical marijuana use out of competition is not prohibited.

Whether the argument will be effective enough remains to be seen, but UFC President Dana White says he doesn't think it's much of a defense.

"My stance on the whole thing is... it's not allowed," White said after the UFC 146 press conference in Las Vegas (transcribed by MMAWeekly.com). "You're not allowed to do it. Whatever the commission says you're not allowed to do, you're not allowed to do. It doesn't matter what I think."

"I don't smoke weed. It's not my thing. It's illegal; you can't do it. I can't present an argument for why [Nick Diaz] should be cool to have marijuana in his system."

However, even if Diaz is suspended for any length of time, White certainly doesn't want to see him follow through with his announced "retirement" from the sport.

"I think if he retired it would be the most insane thing I've ever seen in my life," White said. "The kid is right now at the pinnacle of his career as far as his talent goes, as far as being a well rounded fighter."

Penick's Analysis: There are a few issues at play which have made the entire thing a murky situation. The first is whether or not the NSAC is sticking to WADA guidelines on this about marijuana's out-of-competition approval. If it's indeed not prohibited out of competition, Diaz's camp has a very real argument. Additionally, White's wrong about it being illegal. On a federal level, yes, but on the state level in California it is legal for Diaz to smoke medical marijuana on the recommendation of a physician, which is what he claims to do. If the NSAC determines that they're not allowing marijuana use at any time, they may have an eventual backlash, but that would be their determination, and Diaz will be punished. We'll see how this plays out in the next month, but there are a lot of variables to the situation.

[Nick Diaz art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]