Boise Olympian Speaks Out On Marijuana Use For Athletes

Every four years, people seem to really care about Track & Field.  Arguably the greatest and most historic sport known to man--Track and Field never gets the credit that it deserves.  Every year, athletes who are under-payed and under-valued compete internationally but every FOUR years, people care because it's the Olympics. As a former track athlete myself--I suppose I can appreciate that at least the sports gets some credit, right?

Perhaps one of the best known Track and Field athletes in modern history is actually a local kid--if you didn't know that. A Bishop Kelly graduate, Nick Symmonds of Boise, Idaho was an international favorite when it came to running--particularly the 800 meter race.  Symmonds was an outspoken advocate for athletes and their rights and has gone on to own his own company, Run Gum, and is known for breaking all sorts of crazy world records on YouTube!

The drama surrounding marijuana and the Olympics has been massive this week since the announcement that the fastest sprinter among United States women Sha'Carri Richardson was ineligible--because of "performance enhancing drugs".

That drug? Marijuana.

The Olympic Trails were held in Oregon, where marijuana is legal.  Many also argue, that marijuana is far from "performance enhancing".  This is where Nick Symmonds comes in: the Boise native is pleading that Richardson be allowed to run.

Symmonds shares his empathy--which if you follow him--is a rarity and believes that if alcohol is going to be a "permissible drug" according to the rules, so too should marijuana.

Rules are rules, as Symonds notes but clearly, he strongly feels there's a double standard here.

I asked our political analyst Kevin Miller for a quote on this particular situation and he shared with us, about The Weed:

The only good weed is dead weed and I'm the exterminator. She broke the rules!!

You can watch Symmonds break down the debate and take his stance--which is compelling, below: