Snoop Dogg Applauds NBA on Stephen A. Smith ’Cast for Ending Marijuana Testing: ‘You Should Be Able to Treat Yourself and Heal Yourself’

Snoop Dogg is happy that the NBA will finally be more lenient toward marijuana use among its players.

In early April, it was announced that the league and its player had reached a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The terms of the agreement included NBA players being allowed to invest in NBA and WNBA teams, a 65-game minimum for players to qualify for regular season accolades like the MVP award, and a new in-season tournament that will begin in 2024.

Also among the major bullet points is the fact that the NBA will no longer penalize players for using marijuana. Additionally, the substance has been removed from the league’s drug testing program.

On Wednesday, Snoop joined ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith on his ManningCast-like alternate broadcast of the play-in game between the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors. Jalen Rose asked Snoop about the NBA’s new drug policy, and he said his first thought was about all the good marijuana can do for players.

“I thought about the medical side of it, the health benefits,” Snoop said, “and how it could actually help ease the opioids and all the pills that they’ve been given and the injections. I thought about that side and how certain players have been able to have a beautiful life after sports because of the fact that they’ve been able to treat themselves with that.”

The move by the NBA is part of a movement among America’s major professional sports leagues to be less harsh when it comes to their players using marijuana. The MLB removed it from its list of banned substances in 2019.

In the NFL, the testing window for marijuana was reduced from four months to just two weeks ahead of training camp. Additionally, the threshold for a positive test was increased and suspensions for positive tests were replaced by fines.

The NHL, while still testing for marijuana, doesn’t punish positive tests. Instead, if a positive test shows “abnormally high levels” of THC, the league will recommend treatment as if it’s a matter of substance abuse.

“Now that the NBA is being lenient, just like the NHL and just like Major League Baseball,” Snoop said, “it’s all the same thing. As long as it doesn’t enhance your skills to make you play better or to give you an advantage, you should be able to treat yourself and to heal yourself.”

Watch above via ESPN2.

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