Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh dissect Sha'carri Richardson's Tokyo Olympic exclusion following her marijuana positive test, debating the hypocrisy of banning cannabis while permitting beta-blockers and Adderall. They critique the one-month suspension that technically allowed relay participation but saw her team exclude her, labeling the decision paternalistic given her teammates' compliance. While acknowledging she broke rules, they argue the four-year ban for a single recreational use is disproportionate for the world's fastest woman, suggesting the incident must catalyze rule reform rather than serve as a rigid deterrent. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Blurred Lines Between Weed and Steroids00:05:45
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If you guys don't know, who Regario Richardson is, you know.
Well, I don't have to explain it.
But she's basically the sprinter that got popped for smoking weed.
Yes.
And she is not allowed to compete in Olympics this year.
She's not allowed to compete in the 100-meter dash or 100-yard dash.
What is it?
Meters a yard meters.
100 meters.
When you say it's a dash, it sounds way less impressive.
That's what I'm doing.
Also, she's not going to compete in the relay.
And this was, she was left off, not because of suspension.
Her suspension's up, and they left her off the 4x100 relay.
The 4x10, not the 100.
Right.
Because I think a one-month suspension.
So she could have made it back for the 4x100, but they decided not to have her on.
Now she is the fastest woman in the world, sixth-fastest woman in history.
So she is like a lock for gold medal.
Could definitely have helped the relay as well.
So interesting thing here, there's two discussions I think need to be had, and I think they have to be had separately.
First is, is it ridiculous that weed is illegal?
Yes.
Yes.
Let's just, yes.
It's stupid.
It is not a performance enhancing drug in any way.
If anything, it can hurt your performance if you're ingesting smoke.
Let's say she's smoking it, right?
That would probably hurt your performance, especially in a cardio-based sport, right?
Not so much for a 100-meter dash, but it's not going to benefit you.
Like smoking, actual smoke, having smoke in your lungs is not going to allow you to breathe better, right?
Maybe marginally worse.
But that being said, there's no enhancement that comes from weed.
I've actually read an interesting thing on this.
Okay.
That like there's some sports.
There's some sports that they don't allow beta blockers, which basically like lower your blood pressure and your like cardiac rhythm.
And that like in certain sports, it can actually help you like focus, like relieve tension, relieve stress, and can actually improve performance.
So like, I mean, there's like random sports where it's like darts, like snooker.
Like, I don't know if there's an actual sound like sprint.
Think about middle links to sprinkle running where it's about weed as an anti-inflammatory or something that keeps your head or your mind in a certain state or long distance running.
Like I know someone who runs marathons high as fuck.
So you're talking about whether it's you're smoking what, a couple puffs to get high.
It's not like you're chain smoking wild.
But that again is different than sprinkling.
Or if you do an edible.
Exactly.
But then you can talk about having weed in your system before a race or during a case.
But to say there's no benefit, I think might be inconclusive, but I think it's.
There's no more benefit with THC than there are like the things that you can consume that are barely legal.
Right.
Right?
There are things that are almost steroids that you can consume.
They're not steroids.
They found a way to get around it, but they could do similar things to it and you can use it, right?
All these protein powders and all this stuff that people are eating, they're going to give advantages because, but it's not illegal.
It's synthesized in this specific way and it's not changing your genetic makeup, but they're giving you some advantage.
And to your point, the only notable suspension is for steroids or for weed and not steroids.
All these Olympians, they're not popping any of them for steroids.
We know they're all doing them.
And then weed is the one thing they pop.
Oh, no, I wouldn't say that we know they're all doing steroids.
I disagree on that.
We can assume a decent number of them are.
I mean, why?
I would say no.
I would say no.
I would say yes.
Why?
Because most high-level athletes are doing something.
If they're doing it to ride the fucking bikes in France, then everybody cheats.
Every NFL.
Yeah, I guess I would say I do believe in the Olympic testing, the USADA, and I think it does catch people.
And when they have been caught, they've gotten their medals removed or they've gotten suspended like what happened with Russia.
I don't think they're intentionally neglecting steroids, but then trying to crack down a weed.
Right.
So we're going too far off this.
The reality is, is you're not going to get an advantage with weed.
Let the fucking athletes smoke weed.
Weed is legal in a lot of states.
It's not federally legal, but let them smoke weed.
And my issue with this whole story is that like the legality of weed and whether it's a performance enhancing drug has kind of blended into this other conversation of whether or not she should be suspended for the weed.
And here's the thing.
She should.
She made a mistake, a monumentally idiotic mistake, but she knew the rules.
She decided to break the rules.
And it's not like it's an immoral rule.
Like when Martin Luther King decides to break an immoral rule, that's something we fight for.
Weed being illegal is not immoral in any way.
You want to get high.
You want to party or you want to relax or you want to focus or you wanted your muscles to combat, whatever you want to get from that thing.
You decided to risk your gold medal and you knew you were risking your gold medal when you did it.
And here's the thing.
Not only did you risk your gold medal, you risked millions of dollars.
Maybe you want to fight for leukemia.
Maybe you want to fight for kids' schools in fucking Canada, Catholic kids schools in Canada.
You could use the millions of dollars that you would have made being the gold medalist, the fastest woman in the world, the front of the fucking weedies box, all the fame and fortune we got for whatever causes that you wanted.
And you risked that to get high.
Not to mention, every one of the people that you're competing against didn't smoke the weed.
They sacrificed the weed smoke.
So people are going, oh, she shouldn't be left off the team.
Yes, she should.
Yes, she should.
She knew the rules.
Every one of her competitors that she competes against decided not to do it.
The fastest sprinters in the world are from Jamaica.
How to Beat Drug Tests Safely00:02:49
If they cannot smoke weed, you cannot smoke weed.
I mean, let's be honest here.
And like to the point of removing her personal responsibility from this, if you're telling me you smoke because you're coping with depression, anxiety, if your mom's like, cool, I can understand that.
You can also get around these tests pretty easily.
That's my thing is like, we're all acting like, again, I think we can assume a decent number of athletes at every high level are doing steroids, performance enhancing drugs, whatever they're doing.
They all get around this.
It's a very easy thing to get around.
They want it to be easy to get around.
That's what I was kind of insinuating earlier.
They want it to be easy to get around because it makes for a better product.
They don't have to crack down super hard.
They can say they will, but I want the fastest sprinters.
I want this girl there.
How the fuck do you not take something to rinse out your system?
Everybody on earth can be.
I know a guy fucking on parole beating drug tests.
Just taking other people's piss in or whatever they do.
This is the Olympics, bro.
It's a gold medal.
This guy doing it to go to St. Louis or whatever the fuck.
You know what I mean?
Like, you can't do that to compete for a gold medal.
Yeah, but you don't think the standard is more strict for the Olympics than like an employee drug media?
There are a lot more resources to get around it.
Whatever they are.
There are a lot of resources to get around drug tests.
Smoke weed, by all means.
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Why the One-Month Ban Was Bullshit00:13:43
I mean, we're talking about maybe the most iconic event of the Summer Olympics.
And she is a fucking star.
Star.
And leaning into the stardom, I mean, the hair, the nails, it's amazing.
She has a look that has to be.
Talking that shit, everything crosses the finish line.
The confidence, the bravado.
It's like, you're looking at a superstar.
Yes.
You're looking at the next track superstar for America, a country that loves trash.
She got that Usain Bolt thing where she just fucking knows she's the best, got the crazy confidence, and then talks this shit and then does it.
And she made the decision.
And listen, this doesn't mean she's an idiot.
We all make mistakes.
She's already 21.
That's not an excuse for me.
That's too old.
If she was 17, I'd be like, okay, 21, you're 21.
You're an adult.
At what point are people going to become adults?
Yeah, but like my leniency for someone making a mistake at 21 is greater than at 31.
You know what I mean?
Like this is her first Olympics.
Like this is her first time being in this first time for your first Olympics.
Like you should be on your P's and Q's even more.
I don't give the excuse for 20.
That's just me, personally.
It's like you're old enough to know.
You know what I mean?
If you're 16 years old, okay.
I mean, I agree.
Like, I think she should have known, especially because I think people are also like, oh, I'm just like her.
Like, she's just a girl that, like, I think people looking at it like a high school track meet.
Yeah.
Like, you're not just like a kid going to the track.
Like, she's a professional athlete at like a professional facility, but professional sponsors.
Like, I know people that have to do like, you know, drug testing for like different events, like weightlifting and stuff.
Yeah.
And they'll contact their team physician, like, hey, can I eat this bagel with these seeds on it?
Like, is this going to pop me for this?
Like, they're super strict with everything.
Yeah.
So in that regard, yeah.
And again, I can't say because I don't know where she's coming from, why she decided to do what she did.
But like the assumption that you wouldn't get popped is kind of arrogant, to be honest with you.
And like, maybe this experience is going to be humbling enough where she goes, okay, I got to take this shit seriously if I want to be the track superstar for America, if I want to be the face of American track and field.
Because the reality is, our mail runners aren't good enough.
No.
They're not fast enough.
She's the one.
And we're all the face.
We all, I think every one of us watched that clip and was like, I fucking love this girl.
I can't wait for her to go to the Olympics.
But it's so weird that like people can't cross these things.
Like she's some sort of like martyr or something like that.
It's bullshit.
You're not a martyr.
You fucked up.
You made a dumb mistake.
Doesn't mean you're dumb.
Like we all make mistakes.
I've made a million fucking mistakes that I regret.
And the rule is dumb.
Bro, the rule is dumb, too.
It's a dumb rule.
Read on all counts.
I'll give you a perfect example once.
Like, I was on a fucking sitcom, right?
And I went to my boys' bachelor party over the weekend.
I didn't have to film over the weekend.
And it was my boy's bachelor party.
And I wanted to be there.
And I went there and I didn't fucking know my lines that well.
And I did shitty that week on set because I was playing catch up the whole time.
I fucked up.
That's no one's fault but my own.
I shouldn't have been partying that weekend.
I should have missed a bachelor party and I should have done a better job with my lines.
That's on me.
And if I got fired from that show, thankfully I didn't.
But if I did, that'd be on me.
Yeah.
That's not on anybody else.
That is on me for now.
And acting is hard.
Acting is a hard thing and very important.
Go ahead.
I agree with you.
Yes, she did break the rule.
I just feel as having like American pride, Biden just bent over and took it in the ass.
Like, hey, the rules are the rules.
He didn't even try to stand up for her because other teams, other countries like Russia, I think their whole fucking gymnastics team got like disqualified because they popped for something and like Russia was going to bat for them trying to like, no, they're not, they're not taking drugs or whatever.
Like, just have some pride and try to get your athletes in the competition when we know the rule is dump.
Yeah, I'm with you 100% that the Russian thing is tricky because it was state-sponsored doping.
So the government was facilitating the steroid use across the whole Olympic team.
And this was exposed in a documentary thing called Icarus.
Icarus.
Yeah, yeah.
And so the government had to be like, no, they're not because the government was doing it.
And I bet you there was the government was back channeling.
Like they're like, listen, like, what I guarantee you on some level, maybe it wasn't Biden, but on some level, they were like, yo, what can we do to get this girl in?
She fucked up.
She's actually a really sweet girl and she's a great competitor and she's going to be great for the fucking Olympics.
People are going to want to see this girl.
Yeah.
What can we do?
And they held strong to their fucking rules.
And the rules are dumb, but they were the rules and she knew it.
Yeah.
And if, and if it was an in-ball rule, if the rule was like, there'll be no black people competing, I would love it if America was like, the fuck, they're not.
Let's go.
Let's put we're breaking that rule.
Yeah, we don't have a choice.
We need to win.
You're going to have me running in the Olympics.
Or they go, women, no black people.
Like, nobody's allowed to have their black people.
We might have a chance.
But, but you know what I'm saying?
It's just such a weird thing where like people started capping so hard.
Like she didn't break this rule that we all know you can't do.
Yeah, it's also worth noting the rule is an international rule.
So like 80% of the world doesn't fuck with weed.
You know what I mean?
Like it's legal in America and in America we're like, yeah, just make it legal.
Like half the over half the world's like, no, weed is not legal.
In Sweden, it's like you can't touch weed.
It's like impossible.
It's an international rule and that's where they're governing from.
Another thing that could be fueling our emotion is younger people who grew up here have all kind of grown up, I think, being like, why the fuck is weed illegal?
And now we're kind of winning where it's like, oh, other states are realizing weed shouldn't be illegal.
So we're looking at this and we remember that from like the fucking early 90s where they're like, oh, weed is a gateway drug.
I don't smoke weed.
By all means, everyone smoke.
It seems fine.
So we're like, are you fucking kidding me?
We're back with this shit.
Weed is this whole thing again.
We just beat this down.
But we didn't.
Internationally, we did not.
Yeah, it's a responsibility thing at the end of the day, right?
It's like you're 100% right about all that.
But at the end of the day, it's like you have a responsibility.
And if you want to be the gold medalist, like if you like, she doesn't deserve to win the gold medal this year.
People are like, oh, she was the best runner, et cetera.
She was the best runner, but she wasn't willing to sacrifice.
No.
And the people, the woman that does win.
Cheat properly.
Or cheat properly.
The woman that does win was the woman that was the fastest and willing to sacrifice all the things that they probably wanted to do in order to achieve that gold medal.
And she's going to win it.
And good for her.
And I don't want her to have an asterisk on it if she wins.
You didn't win just because that girl didn't compete.
That girl did shit so she didn't compete.
So whoever does end up winning, if it's an American girl, if it's a Jamaican girl, it's a fucking Japanese girl.
It doesn't matter who it is.
But like, you won that.
Yeah.
Because you sacrificed more than the other girl.
Yeah.
She wasn't willing to forego some of those pleasures, some of those luxuries in order to achieve, you know.
And it sucks.
We lost out on a fucking amazing performance.
This is such bullshit.
The thing that can come out good on this side is that this is such a bullshit thing to happen.
It's not someone being penalized for a month.
It's like you being blocked out of the Olympics for four years.
You probably got all of them in there.
This hurts so disproportionately that I at least hope from this, it proves it's such a ridiculous rule, not to have it while you were actually performing, but before the events happened.
And there isn't even a meter to say, like, if you have weed in your system because you smoked it recreationally versus you actually used it to actually perform before, like, it's like drunk driving.
You have 0.08 in your system, like ding them for something, suspend the sentence, do something.
But I think that because this is so crazy and seemingly unfair, at least to me, considering weed is legal in so many ways, we know it's not an enhancement, that we should light up this thing and actually go against this argument to say this is the fastest way to have this rule change for next time.
So I don't want to put it around and say like, oh yeah, you didn't follow the rules.
You don't deserve it this round.
I was like, people should be really fucking upset.
No.
Push the change.
No.
Why?
If people go quiet about it, the rule doesn't change for another push against the rule.
Change the rule.
Fine.
That's such a terrible fucking thing.
That's the part where she could be a martyr.
Did she not know the rule when she decided to smoke?
No, I mean, I don't think I was debating that.
I'm not debating it.
She's out.
You're right.
You're right.
We should change the rule.
And I hope that this expedites the changing of that rule.
I hope by the time there's another, if anything, that's what it's like.
But part of the reason why the Olympics are so important is because it's every four years.
So think about it.
If you decide to do something to fuck up your opportunity at the Olympics, you gotta wait another four years.
You think getting high once was worth that?
Like, she's probably killing herself right now, bro.
The fact that she's even doing interviews and like keeping her chin up is impressive.
Yeah.
It's honestly impressive because she knows how much she sacrificed for this shit her whole life.
Yeah.
Thinking about being on a podium, imagining every single moment.
Yeah.
And then she did something dumb in one moment.
Yeah.
And then she doesn't have the opportunity.
It's not even that dumb.
It's like, it's, it's, exactly.
It's completely accepted within our, you know, society, within our culture.
She knew she fucked up, but she was like, maybe it'll be out of my system by then.
The one interesting thing is that she was left off the relay team by choice by the committee.
That's right.
I like that that did that.
So for context, like she got the one-month ban.
She was going to miss the 100-meter, but she technically would be eligible to do the relay.
But the committee didn't pick on that.
I don't like that.
Why do you like that?
Because you let us down.
If you're the committee, if you're the committee.
Very paternal.
I like it.
If you let us down.
No, if you're the committee, it's like, I'm not going to reward you when there's another girl that didn't do that.
And she's been working her ass just as hard as you.
And maybe she's not as talented as you.
Maybe she's not as naturally gifted, but she's been working her ass off too.
And she didn't smoke.
And this is her reward, though.
This is her dream as well, though.
This is her dream as well.
And you fucked this up for you.
So we can't reward you breaking the rules that are stupid, these dumb fucking asinine rules, but we can't reward it.
You got yourself kept out of these lines.
Punishment was a 30-day suspension.
That was the punishment for the crime.
And we agree the punishment is disproportionate.
We agree.
This is a lot for weed.
It's a stupid rule.
And she got to wait another four years.
That seems like it is the way it is, but it's fucking cruel.
Now, here you go.
Get us a gold medal because we don't know if we're going to win without one of the strongest runners we got.
We might, but we're taking a chance.
And she's already being punished disproportionately.
And we all agree the rule is stupid.
I think you can throw her on the 4x100.
The one thing that I did read about is that this guy's team, China.
We start caring about fucking fights.
This guy's team, China.
You want goals or not?
He likes to do that.
We're trying to get it.
He likes personal accountability.
I like personal accountability.
Do you also like to win?
That's the accountability.
Do you also like to win?
That's the win for me.
Yo.
The accountability is medical and personal accountability.
Oh, yeah.
We got a gold medal of character.
So suck it, Russia.
It's important to bring up, and this is a question for you.
She made a choice.
That was her therapy to use that drug, which is a natural drug, versus probably a dozen legal painkillers that she could have used.
Oh, stop this.
Xanax raised.
Prescription drugs.
Why don't you comment on that?
Why?
But if it's football players that can't smoke weed to have an anti-inflammatory or to let go from all that pain, they go.
Talk about prescription.
You're 100% right.
It is bullshit that prescription drugs, they're way more powerful than smoking marijuana, are legal and then marijuana can get you kicked out of the Olympics.
I completely agree.
It's stupid.
Again, I don't want to conflate the two arguments.
That being said, if you know, for example, I think Adderall is looked at as a performance-enhancing drug in certain instances.
Let's say you're someone who suffers from ADD, but you still want to compete in the Olympics.
You know, if you take Adderall for your ADD, it will still knock you out of Olympic competition.
So you know what you do?
You go, I can't take Adderall.
You take that sacrifice because you know it's on the list of things that are banned.
I'm not sure if it is banned, but there are certain drugs like that.
Weed isn't the only one.
Yeah, there's a bunch.
Like if the rule was like, oh, you can take Adderall if you're prescribed, like every Olympian would be prescribed Adderall.
Especially the ones that are doing the sports like not darts as well, but like the shooting one where you have an incredible focus.
You know, it's tricky, but you know, she did make that choice, man.
That's fine.
It sucks, dude.
It's so stupid.
I don't want to seem like the fucking grandpa on this.
And I think this is where you seem like the grandpa is, yeah, it's a good lever off the 4x100.
It's like, yo, if you got grounded from going to on your birthday and you're grounded and you miss this day you look forward to all year, but there's another party that's less fun right after your ground punishment ends, let the kid fucking go.
You already missed the thing that you care about that most.
That's what we're saying.
The thing I was reading is that apparently she's not able to train with the Olympic team.
Oh, during that month.
I don't know if that's confirmed, but that was just one of the articles I read.
She's not able to be like in the Olympic program for that month.
She's able to do personal training.
This is interesting.
So it's not a punishment that she's left off the team.
Maybe.
It's, hey, I need these girls hand in the baton.
The relay is super technical.
There's teamwork.
And I know it sounds absurd to call the relay technical.
No, but it actually is.
It's like step by step.
It's every inch that you involve.
The fucking Olympics.
Yeah, yeah.
So that's part of it.
And then the other part of it.
That makes more sense.
So, okay, how about this?
I agree that I was being a little bit of a curmudgeon with my decision making.
I think that you should let her run the 4x100.
But now, if it is true that she can't train with them for a month, I understand their decision.
But I agree.
She paid her fucking dues.
Let her compete if you can.
And if she can't train with those other girls and do it, then she should have been in.