The White House petition on Nick Diaz’s marijuana suspension has garnered a response after hitting the threshold this fall, but as expected it’s not much.
The initial petition sought to get the White House to step in after Diaz was suspended five years by the Nevada Athletic Commission. In a post on Whitehouse.gov, the official response thanked petitioners for their efforts, but made it clear there’s nothing they’ll be able to do about the decisions of a single state athletic commission.
Here’s the response:
Thank you for your petition regarding the Nevada Athletic Commission’s suspension of Nick Diaz.
The federal government plays no role in the disciplinary actions taken by state athletic commissions, so we are not in a position to address the specific request raised in your petition. State authorities — in this case, the Nevada Athletic Commission — will generally be the best source for information about those kinds of issues.
However, we appreciate that so many of you banded together to make your voices heard through this platform.
Despite the inaction from the Federal Government, Diaz’s suspension is expected to be reduced as his team has been working on a settlement with the commission.
Penick’s Analysis: This is about all that could have been expected from the petition. There wasn’t anything they were going to do to overturn an athlete suspension from an athletic commission, but it’s still a sign of how egregious the NAC’s decision was that so many people spoke out against it. We still haven’t gotten terms on a settlement, but hopefully it will be taken care of in short order.
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