Major League Sports Embrace Cannabis Industry, Despite Past Concerns Around Dropping

By Inesa Ponomariovaite

After decades of marginalization and denial, American professional sports leagues are finally beginning to embrace their athletes’ cannabis use and tout its beneficial uses, rather than demonize it. As a result, a growing number of professional athletes have begun speaking up about the benefits of using CBD oil for pain management.

This summer Major League Baseball became the first major U.S. sports league to sign a deal with a CBD brand.

The sponsorship deal was only made possible after the MLB decided to remove cannabis from the league’s list of banned substances in 2019. Before the rule change, players who tested positive for THC were referred to mandatory treatment, and failure to comply carried a fine of up to $35,000. That penalty is now gone.

More recently, the MLB has taken it a step further and begun to allow baseball teams in the league to sell sponsorships to cannabis companies that market CBD products, as long as they meet certain criteria.

What’s changed?

For starters, many states have moved to legalize marijuana helping to pave the way for major league sports teams to embrace the industry and accept advertising dollars.

On top of this, a growing body of research has proven that CBD has many medicinal benefits and can be an alternative to highly addictive opioids. This includes CBD oil for pain relief. 

Is the Cannabis Industry ready for the big leagues?

Elite athletes require optimal support of the mind and body in order to perform at their highest level. Just like the food we eat, not all CBD products are created equally, and as a result, it’s critical that professional athletes are only consuming the highest quality CBD products.  

Unfortunately, because there are very few rules regulating the cannabis industry it can be extremely difficult to figure out which CBD products contain the highest quality ingredients.

How do professional athletes determine which CBD products to use?

The highest quality CBD products should be tested by a credible third-party, such as an FDA-registered laboratory, and include a safety seal.

According to the MLB’s rules a team can only sell a CBD sponsorship if a company’s products are certified by NSF International, a consumer safety and product-testing organization that sports leagues regularly use.

What is the best CBD oil on the market?

While there are a few high-quality products already on the market, it’s not always easy to find them. One of the best CBD oils that many athletes are now using is Nesas Hemp, which has quickly grown in popularity thanks to its focus on quality and product safety.

Nesas hemp is the world’s first, full-spectrum hemp extract to be certified with a safety seal by a FDA-registered laboratory. It is created through a unique process to preserve the healing compounds of the hemp plant which contains healthy fats, vitamins, and beneficial phytonutrients.

While it’s not clear if other major sports leagues will follow the MLB’s lead, what is clear is that more and more people, including professional athletes, are beginning to recognize the medicinal benefits of CBD. 

Inesa Ponomariovaite is a holistic health expert who after years of improving the lives of her clients through her alternative and holistic health consulting services, became frustrated with the inability to source pure CBDa products that met the highest quality standard. To change that, she launched Nesas Hemp, which has quickly become a dominant player in the CBDa hemp industry. Nesas is the world’s first, full-spectrum hemp extract to be certified with a safety seal by a FDA registered laboratory. It is created through a unique process to preserve the healing compounds of the hemp plant, which bring optimal health and healing and restore the body to its natural state. Inesa’s ethos, “doing right” for humanity, continues to propel her to develop products and services that are good for the environment and good for the mind, body and soul.

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