I’ve got an admission to make I never really liked Snoop as a rapper
I mean he’s not exactly Kool Keith, Wu Tang or Madvillian is he?
His illustrious TV career and public persona as safe daddy cannabis somewhat grates and in the same week that he appears to have become Mr Olympics he’s also announced this.
CULTURE
Snoop Dogg Launches His First Marijuana Dispensary, Along With New Line Of Cannabis Products Honoring 2Pac
We see him living it up at the olympics as icon of da yoof even though he’s really their grandaddy
So, why is he there?
Well he’s both an Olympic torchbearer and commentator for NBC – nice gigs if you can get them.
I hear you, dear reader, muttering under your breath why pick on poor cuddly snoop, mr hard knocks etc etc.
Simply put rank hypocrisy from all sides.
As a cannabis user and weed spruik artist extraordinaire he is welcome to go the the olympics as a private citizen but in the pay of a large media corporation and as an official torch bearer no way jose should be the response.
But oh why oh why i hear people bleat, he’s doing no harm.
Here’s the rub, the olympics and their attitude towards cannabis.
Here’s a whole paper on the topic from which I’ve pulled out a couple of pithy quotes
The Code prohibits an agent or method that meets two of three criteria.60 Those criteria are: the agent or method (1) “ has potential to enhance or enhances sport performance”; (2) “represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete”; or (3) “violates the spirit of the sport.”61 The more important of the three criteria are its potential for performance enhancement and violation of the spirit of the game.
The Code prohibits an agent or method that meets two of three criteria.60 Those criteria are: the agent or method (1) “ has potential to enhance or enhances sport performance”; (2) “represents an actual or potential health risk to the athlete”; or (3) “violates the spirit of the sport.”61 The more important of the three criteria are its potential for performance enhancement and violation of the spirit of the game.
The Olympics and Cannabis
Here’s another paper, one that makes the case for removing cannabis from the list of banned substances
Missing the Mark_ The Case for Removing Cannabis from the World A
and in case we forgot
The following article turned up yesterday and had already started me thinking about the issue, both as a sometime surfer and sometime cannabis user.
When the Snoop photo appeared in one of my endless feeds this morning it further cemented why i will most likely find myself ignoring the latest round of bread and circuses.
Although, i already learn there isn’t even enough bread for the atheletes, and in Paris too.
The Guardian
Not en-oeuf: catering staff forced to ration eggs at Olympic Village in Paris
- Athletes complain about quality and quantity on offer
- ‘Volumes will be increased,’ catering firm says
Athletes promised Michelin starred dining, including members of Team GB, have complained about both the quality of the produce and the quantity, after the catering staff were forced to ration the breakfast eggs on Wednesday morning.
Despite the stereotype that equates surfers and stoners, marijuana is a prohibited substance in competitive professional surfing. Testing positive for weed during a competition, whether a WSL Championship Tour event or an ISA Olympic qualifier, carries consequences. That’s how things have been, how they are, and how they will be. And as surfing launches further into the Olympic realm, I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
The connection between weed and surfing resurfaced in the news cycle this month when Portuguese surfer Vasco Ribeiro lost his attempt to appeal a three-year ban handed to him by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He hadn’t tested positive. The problem was that he refused to take a random, out-of-competition test, citing that he knew he would test positive for THC, among other recreational drugs. What he didn’t know is that the “zaza” and other “party” drugs, like ecstasy and cocaine, are not tested for outside of competition. If Ribeiro’s story is true, he unnecessarily subjected himself to the penalty.
Ribeiro isn’t the first or last surfer who has run into problems that stem from smoking herb. There’s a soon-to-be Olympic surfer who also quietly got popped with a positive test during junior surfing years. Because the athlete was a minor when the infraction occurred, the surfer’s identity has been withheld. But that surfer has long since served the penalty and had any mention wiped clean from the ISA’s “wall-of-shame” page. Moral: don’t refuse drug tests.
The International Surfing Association (ISA) abides by the policy of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – a copy-and-paste set of language that is uniform across the policies of most, if not all, Olympic sport federations. According to WADA, THC is a banned substance, officially classified as a “substance of abuse.” Other recreational drugs like cocaine and ecstasy also fall into this category.
Read more
I’m sure everybody will love the Snoop at the Olympics narrative. I for one won’t be sucked into it.
He should stand back.
He’s already got enough money and coverage and he doesn’t need more and he’s also said he’ll be on his best behaviour which implies that he won’t be putting cannabis on any discussion agenda as something that should be removed from the Olympics and WADA’s prohibited list.
On the other side of the coin the US Olympic committee should have looked elsewhere for the cool spruik celeb who I presume they’ve got in to fill their coffers.
In the end it’s all about the coin… perfect timing for snoop and his new dispensary business and so the world turns.
@nbcolympics Snoop Dogg is officially in Paris meeting the people, kissing the babies, just being Snoop Dogg #ParisOlympics #SnoopDogg
