Sha "Carri Richardson will be missing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She tested positive for marijuana. The ban demonstrates a real problem with drug policy. Marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug. Taking it would effect concentration and focus before competition. This does not make an athlete run faster or become stronger. The only reason this substance is banned is because of a dated War on Drugs policy. That was never meant to protect public health, rather fund a prison industrial complex. Other athletes may have taken drugs that do enhance their performance, but have not been detected. The use of marijuana is not a serious offense. A sports organization does have a right to ban a substance, but the only condition should be that it provides an unfair advantage. Science proves that marijuana does not increase aerobic capacity, strength, endurance, or speed. Nor is it deleterious to health. The US just lost a chance at gold medals over a drug policy that should not exist. Sha' Carri Richardson stated that she takes responsibility and understood the rules. She should not apologize for anything, because the rules in this case are distorted. Richardson's ordeal is more proof that it is time to legalize marijuana across the United States.
