California State Athletic Commission Passes Amendment, Exemptions For TRT, Marijuana

California State Athletic Commission Passes Amendment, Exemptions For TRT, Marijuana Could Be Allowed


Ethan Miller - Getty Images
This man ignited the debate regarding TRT. Today, the California State Athletic Commission took steps to allow therapeutic use exemptions for TRT and marijuana. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)


The California State Athletic Commission was thrown into the center of the TRT debate by Chael Sonnen back around UFC 117, and has now taken steps to allow for TUE's for TRT and marijuana. SI.com passes along the information regarding the state's amendment:

The California State Athletic Commission voted on Monday to approve an amendment that allows therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for combat sports’ athletes who use drugs currently banned by the state agency for medical purposes, including testosterone and marijuana.
To be adopted into state law, the amendment’s verbiage must now be reviewed and approved by the Department of Consumer Affairs and then the state’s Office of Administrative Law, a process that could take months or even years, if it passes at all.
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According to CSAC executive officer George Dodd, TUE's have been granted to fighters with the supporting medical documentation in the past, including Dan Henderson before his UFC 139 bout with Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. This amendment will basically allow to the commission to streamline the process, which is "loosely modeled" on what WADA uses. Henderson's application was used as a test case, according to Dodd:

Dodd told SI.com in December that Henderson’s rigorous approval process served as a test case that the commission used to evaluate its proposed TUE requirements.
Like Henderson, one of three fighters approved for a testosterone TUE in Nevada, Dodd said future TUE candidates would need to provide extensive medical records documenting past use of the drug for medical purposes.
For a testosterone exemption specifically, Dodd said an applicant would be asked to provide blood tests prior to (30 days before) and after a contest to ensure levels were within acceptable margins. Dodd said that all materials submitted would be reviewed by the CSAC’s medical advisory board, which added an endocrinologist to its ranks on Monday for such cases.
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Nothing regarding a TUE for marijuana was mentioned in the article, other than that the amendment will cover that as well. While TRT is very controversial in MMA, marijuana usage has been too (such as the case of Nick Diaz post-UFC 137) and it will be interesting to see how that process will work for fighters.

 

Though TUE amendment passed, CSAC expects lengthy review, few exemptions

by Steven Marrocco on Apr 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm ET
Those looking to get a therapeutic-use exemption in California could face a long wait, according to California State Athletic Commission Executive Director George Dodd.

The commission this week passed an amendment that allows fighters to use banned substances in competition if it can be proved they are medically necessary.

But the amendment's specifics are still being ironed out, Dodd said, and if hurdles to making it law are cleared, the exemption process won't be easy.

"It's going to be pretty elaborate," he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Testosterone and marijuana, of course, are the banned substances that draw the most attention in the combat-sports world. The former is often called legal cheating while the latter is dismissed as a performance-enhancer.

On April 24, both could be in the spotlight. At a meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, UFC heavyweight Alistair Overeem is expected to explain an abnormally high level of testosterone, and welterweight Nick Diaz (and California medical-marijuana patient) Nick Diaz could attempt to fight his suspension for marijuana metabolites.

Prior to this week's ruling, the CSAC had no formal rules in place for therapeutic-use exemptions, which came to light in late 2010 when UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone and claimed he had permission from the commission's previous executive director.

Dodd said the aim of the amendment, which is modeled after an exemption process employed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is to provide "a screening process to allow those individuals the opportunity to fight as long as they stayed within certain parameters."

In other words, to make sure the playing field is level.

Under Dodd's stewardship, one fighter, former Strikeforce champ Dan Henderson, was granted a "one-time exemption" to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 139 while taking doctor-prescribed testosterone. During a meeting Monday in Sacramento, CSAC counsel Anita Scurry said Dodd had no authority to do so and whatever process was in place was "informal." Dodd said the decision was based on the commission's desire to evaluate the potential issues that may arise if a rule granting therapeutic exemptions were put in place.

A representative from the Department of Consumer Affairs, which falls under the same state agency as the CSAC, expressed concerns that the amendment under review isn't specific enough and opens a window to abuse.

The amendment is now set for review by the DCA as well as California's Office of Administrative Law, who will gauge whether it meets a set of criteria to be adopted into the CSAC's regulations. Dodd said it could be passed in as few as 60 days or as long as two years, if at all.

"It's still a lengthy process," he said. "There's some obstacles that we're going to run into."

However, Dodd already has an idea of what the process is likely to entail. At the very least, exemption candidates will need to provide a chain of documentation from an endocrinologist proving the medical necessity of a banned substance. The CSAC's medical board, which on Monday added its own hormone specialist to its ranks, will then review the paperwork. Additionally, the candidate will need to appear before the commission.

Timing, then, will be critical for fighters who often get bookings on notice of three months or less.

"The medical board only meets three or four times a year, so you could get your documents into the medical board, but if the medical board has already met, you probably won't fight in California," Dodd said.

If an exemption is granted, the commission will decide its term and may review it periodically.

Dodd noted that the exemption process is not specifically geared for testosterone and marijuana.

"We're still in our infancy (with the process)," he said. "We're still working out the logistics. So again, it's not going to be an easy process."