American long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall was stripped of her indoor national title after testing positive for cannabis and has served a one-month suspension.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced the punishment Tuesday, saying a sample taken at the USA Track & Field indoor championships Feb. 17 in Albuquerque was positive for THC, the psychoactive component found in cannabis, marijuana and hashish. That same day, she won the national title with a jump of 6.99 meters (22 feet 11 inches).
USADA said in a statement that Davis-Woodhall’s sample “was above the urinary Decision Limit of 180 ng/ml” and that the 23-year-old had completed her suspension, which began March 21.
Because her use of cannabis was not competition-related and she completed a substance abuse program, Davis-Woodhall’s suspension was reduced to one month under World Anti-Doping Agency rules. However, she lost her title and was “disqualified from all competitive results obtained on and subsequent to Feb. 17, 2023 … including forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.”
WADA continues to list cannabis, marijuana and hashish as prohibited substances even though use of the drugs has been legalized in many places, and USADA urged WADA to reconsider its standards.
“WADA seeks input on each year’s updated version of the Prohibited List,” USADA said in a statement. “USADA has advocated and will continue to advocate to WADA, the rulemaker, to treat marijuana in a fairer and more effective way to identify true in-competition use.”
Davis-Woodhall, who finished sixth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, is not the first high-profile U.S. athlete to pay a steep price after testing positive for a substance that does not enhance performance and is increasingly being decriminalized. In 2021, Sha’Carri Richardson was stripped of her 100-meter victory in the U.S. Olympic trials after a positive test.
Richardson, who said she used marijuanato cope with stress and after learning of the death of her birth mother, was suspended for a month and was not chosen by USA Track & Field to run in the 4×100-meter relay, keeping her out of the Tokyo Olympics.
