Sport
First professional athlete to compete in USA with medical cannabis exemption
The exemption will allow the use of cannabis as medicine during training and in preparation for competitions.
MMA fighter Elias Theodorou will be the first professional athlete to compete with a medical cannabis exception.
Elias Theodorou is a top-ranked Canadian middleweight MMA fighter. As well as fighting in the ring, he is dedicated to fighting the stigma of medical cannabis for athletes.
This will mark the first exception for medical cannabis in professional sport in the US. It is also the first-ever American bout to have an in-competition Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for medical cannabis.
The exemption allows the use of cannabis as medicine during training and in preparation for competitions without the risk of being penalised or barred.
The fight will take place on December 18 2021 after Theodorou was granted the TUE earlier this year. It takes place in Colorado which is a legal cannabis state. which happens to be the home of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Cannabis in Colorado has been legal for medical use since 2000.
His first attempts at having his medical cannabis recognised by the USADA failed.
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MMA and Medical cannabis
In a statement, cannabis advocate, Elias said:
“Validating my US Colorado TUE for cannabis with a fight and finish will officially stamp my place in American sporting history as the first sanctioned cannabis athlete. This is a precedent not only for myself but for other athletes in Colorado and other states, which in turn can create a wave of opportunities for other athletes to apply for the same right to medicate with cannabis in competition.”
He added: “I will commemorate my next fight with an NFT that represents the ‘knockout punch’ to the prohibition in athletics, validating my therapeutic use exemption means.”
Theodorou started using cannabis to treat pain associated with bilateral neuropathy. It followed an accident that left his hand broken in two places and fractured in a further four. He also suffers from nerve damage in his upper body. He started on prescribed painkillers such as opioids before realising they were detrimental to his MMA training.
Image right: Elias Theodorou Instagram
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