One of the biggest stories coming out of Nick Diaz testing positive for marijuana after his UFC 143 bout with Carlos Condit has been Diaz’s medical prescription for the drug. While some have said that Diaz should not be punished at all for something he has a prescription for, others have pointed out that there are plenty of medical conditions which require drugs or other intervention which prevent others from fighting.
But, as pointed out in a recent Cage Potato interview with Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, there were ways for Diaz and his camp to have applied for an exemption for his use, they just didn’t:
According to Kizer, though, Diaz had another option: coming to the NSAC weeks before fighting and applying for a therapeutic exemption (TUE) for his marijuana use.
Given that Diaz’ coach and manager, Cesar Gracie, has made a point of saying that Diaz has a legal right to use marijuana in California since a doctor prescribed it to him, one would have expected Diaz to have applied for the exemption with the commission.
But that did not happen Kizer explains, as no one from Diaz’ camp has ever attempted to explain any mitigating circumstances to him about the fighter’s marijuana use or tried to contextualize it to attempt for Nick to granted a therapeutic exemption. “I have no idea what [Diaz’s] marijuana situation is,” Kizer told CagePotato on Thursday. “No one from his camp has ever come to me or the commission and tried to explain it.”
Requesting the exemption doesn’t mean they would have gotten one, but it is certainly a better first step than simply assuming that you’ll be able to beat the testing every time out.
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