For a long time now, Marijuana has been a widely debated and scrutinized substance. It’s very often put in a bad light because of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s placing of the substance as a schedule 1 drug, placing it alongside Heroin, Ecstasy, and LSD in the most dangerous category of drugs. Though this placement seems intimidating, the recent legalization of the substance in over 7 states has left many people feeling contradicted about the subject. With the rise in legality, the substance has went from something labeled as “the gateway drug” to being nearly as legal as tobacco. In this essay, I will argue that while marijuana shouldn’t be used during the exact hours of your athletic training, it can be very beneficial to muscular gains when used during non-training hours, no matter before or after. I first became interested in the topic of marijuana and exercise one morning years ago. I had been watching sportscenter and they did a piece on former NFL pro-bowl running back Ricky Williams and his plan to build the world’s first marijuana friendly gym in San Francisco. At the time of watching this, Williams claimed that marijuana both helps during a workout, and immediately after. The idea of a pro-weed workout facility sparked my interest instantly and has held it ever since. 

Ben Greenfield is a very popular personal trainer in the workout scene. He was voted the number one personal trainer in the nation in 2008, and he has also written over 15 books with topics ranging anywhere from how to be a better personal trainer, to the in’s and out’s of triathlon training and everything in-between. In one of his many articles published on his own website, Greenfield went in depth on the effects of weed when exercising. Ben claimed that smoking before performing a rigorous activity, or something that requires quick thinking may not be the best idea, but could prove beneficial when performing a more endurance based activity (ex. Distance running, UFC training, etc). He decided to incorporate his own personal studies with previous scientific information to come out with the best possible conclusion. A quote from Ben’s article, “Notably, the non-psychoactive component of marijuana, CBD, has been shown to regulate mTOR in a different way than THC, and CBD has been repeatedly shown to induce several health promoting effects such as killing breast cancer cells, ameliorating epilepsy, and increasing cognitive performance.” In the end, Greenfield concluded that marijuana, no matter how it is taken, has no direct effect either positive or negative on the body’s ability to grow and repair muscles. Another article that appeared on the business insider website is very comparable to the one I previously described. In this article, written by Kevin Loria, Loria decides to highlight athletes that regularly consumed marijuana and still had great outcomes in their respected sports. The first being Ross Rebagliati, a former olympic snowboarder who in 1998 tested positive for marijuana just hours after his first place run in the winter olympics. When the test came back positive it obviously turned some heads, but luckily enough for him at the time of the incident marijuana wasn’t even included in the International Olympic Committee’s list of banned substances (it is now). Loria also writes about elite triathlete Clifford Drusinsky, who told Men's Journal “When I get high, I train smarter and focus on form. Marijuana relaxes me and allows me to go into a controlled, more meditational place.” When Loria decided to show his friend and Outside Magazine correspondent Gordy Megroz his findings from his research, he decided to do some personal findings of his own. Megroz had heard previously from some of his skiing friends that marijuana helped them make more complete runs on the mountain, so after Loria came to him with his references too he knew that he had to try. Loria writes about Megroz, saying “Megroz first tried cannabis while on the mountain, and that with a ‘slight yet very functional high,’ he ‘felt invincible and proceeded to attack the steepest lines without fear’”. Loria later explains about the personal case study that Megroz decided to perform, where he got on a treadmill, set it for 5 miles per hour, and then increased the ramp angle 2.5% every two minutes. Sober, he kept up for 19 minutes, but when performed under the influence of marijuana he kept up for 19 minutes and 30 seconds, a substantial difference. He later performed the same test two more times and received very similar results. 

A name that came up earlier in my writing, Clifford Drusinsky is the focus of an article in Men’s Journal by Joel Warner. Now 41 years of age, Drusinsky is still as physically active as ever. By working with the likes of Nick Diaz (world renowned MMA fighter), Michael Phelps, and many other athletes that have trained with cannabis infused workouts, Drusinsky has been able to hone in on exactly how the body reacts to marijuana. An average day for Clifford consists of waking up at 3 AM, eating a self made protein bar with 20mg of THC, and going on a 13 mile run. When asked about the science behind this, Drusinsky points mainly towards the endocannabinoids. When you ingest cannabis, it’s chemical compounds (cannabinoids) bind with receptors in the brain and body that regulate pain, mood, appetite, and memory. Through the pain aspect is where the “runner’s high” is achieved (a feeling that many people report getting when running while high where they feel as though their endurance has increased because of the mindset the substance left them in). There could be other potential advantages beyond just pain relief, as studies have shown that doses of THC increase motor activity in mice, so in theory a bit of marijuana could equal out to more speed. Also noted in the article, a similar study done by the University of Bordeaux in France found that when the brain is exposed to cannabis, it reacts to the THC by producing pregnenolone, a chemical found in natural steroids that the body produces. Pregnenolone is proven to increase energy and reduce fatigue, two very big factors in the choice of my side. 

Two articles that helped me to understand what marijuana does to the body come from the websites medicalmarijuana.procon.org and livescience.com. These two articles tend to focus more on the case studies performed throughout the years, which was a major component in my deciding on a side for this topic. In the first of the two sources I named, 60 peers went in depth on how marijuana affects the body when taken over by numerous diseases and disabilities. To name a few, ALS, Bipolar disorder, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Pain, PTSD, and Tourette’s syndrome were all tested. Believe it or not, marijuana aided every single one of the diseases/conditions that were tested, and only had a single clear negative effect on three of the sixty patients with varying health problems. Multiple Sclerosis brought back both the most negative effects and the most positive effects, the positives outweighing the negatives 11 to 3. The article that I found on LiveScience went more into depth on what affects the substance has on the brain. Some effects, according to the National Institutes of Health are increased heart rate up to 20 percent, potential trouble with memory during the time that you’re high, potential lapses in judgement, potential decreasing of eye-hand coordination, and potential problems with coordination as a whole. Notice how these government induced negatives all have “potential” written before them. This is because the exact causes of marijuana cannot be pinpointed, since it varies with each person and each varying strand that may be ingested (there are thousands of marijuana strain combinations). This information, though not directly having to do with fitness or working out, is very pivotal in choosing your own side to this argument. This is just some background information that I feel like everyone should know, especially with a topic that has to do with health concerns on a substance like marijuana. 

The mixture of marijuana and exercise also has some negatives. It’s proven that marijuana directly lowers testosterone, which is essential when the muscles are recovering from a workout. Though it doesn’t completely halt testosterone production, it lowers during the times you feel high, which can stem at most four to five hours depending on the amount taken in. There is normally a 5 percent decrease in testosterone produced when smoking marijuana, so a very minimal difference. Once you come down from said high, your testosterone levels go back to normal, making it more of a delayed effect than a direct hindrance. The more your body gets used to this sudden change in testosterone production, the less drastic the change. Marijuana can also lead to a lowered eye-hand coordination during the time you’re high, which if directly done before working out could cause some potential mistakes to be made, further putting the user in danger. Like the testosterone situation, another common knock on marijuana is that it lowers the body’s ability to produce Growth Hormones. This however is a common misconception based on studies in the 1990’s done on rats. When performing the same study on humans, research found that the GH level was fairly unmoved, most outliers coming on the overproducing of Gh side, which would be a positive. The only stereotypical knock on cannabis that holds true is that it lowers eye-hand coordination when in that high physical state. This state tends to last anywhere from 1-6 hours depending on how much THC in taken into the body, but coordination is returned to normal as soon as the substance wears off, making it much less of a problem than some may say.

Through all the sources I have gathered, I feel confident in saying that marijuana is not a direct hindrance to achieving muscular gains. With low willpower, it can in some cases create a more challenging atmosphere to say no to more fattening foods, but with a strong and determined mind the positives outweigh the negatives quite convincingly. With the lowering of pain relief, the regulation of mood, and the increasing of endurance, stamina, and legality across the US, marijuana can definitely play a large role in the fitness world sooner rather than later. With many direct accounts and science proven facts, like those found in the article’s strictly about peer-reviewed studies, I feel it is obvious that my point has been made.
