NBA eliminates cannabis testing, allows players to invest in cannabis companies under new CBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) will no longer drug test players for cannabis as part of the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Under the new CBA, tentatively agreed to by the league and the NBA Players Association (NBPA), players will no longer be penalized for positive drug tests for cannabis as testing for the substance has been removed from the NBA’s drug testing program entirely, according to The Athletic.

In addition, NBA players will be allowed to promote and/or invest in cannabis companies, The Athletic reports.

“The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have reached a tentative agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, pending ratification by players and team governors. Specific details will be made available once a term sheet is finalized,” NBPA said in its news release announcing the new CBA.

The NBA’s new CBA is a seven-year agreement that still needs to be ratified by both sides before it becomes official.

NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said the NBA’s new CBA will help “protect our players.”

“Since day one, the goal of the NBPA in this negotiation was to protect our players, enrich their lives on and off the court, and establish a framework that recognizes our players as true partners with the governors in both the NBA and the business world at large!,” Tremaglio said in a Tweet.

The NBA eliminating drug testing for cannabis comes less than two years after the league announced in October 2021 it would no longer randomly drug test players for cannabis use, continuing a policy the league instituted in March 2020 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.