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Breaking Down the Alex Gazan THC Controversy · The Spin Podcast

• 0:33
  Welcome to a special edition of the Spin.
• 0:36
  It is just myself, Brian Spin. It is Thursday afternoon.
• 0:42
  Normally it's on Wednesdays, but after posting the article about
• 0:48
  Alex Kazan this morning, I think a lot of you guys have missed
• 0:54
  what's going on. You guys have have not seen what
• 0:57
  the point of this entire article is.
• 1:01
  So I definitely want to clear this out, let you guys ask some
• 1:05
  questions and I'll explain why all of you guys in the comments
• 1:10
  just do not get it. Berry.
• 1:13
  MC Cochner. How's it going, Bubba?
• 1:18
  Let's see. Oh, Jake is 8th.
• 1:20
  All right, All right, so if you guys were not paying attention
• 1:27
  this morning, it all started with a talking Elite fitness
• 1:32
  interview with Alex Kazan, and I'll play that clip right here.
• 1:41
  And let's see. So she was on Talk Elite
• 1:47
  Fitness, they're talking about World Fitness project couple
• 1:50
  weekends ago and Alex says this. One of my methods when I can't
• 1:56
  sleep very well is to take like a micro dose THC.
• 1:59
  Gummy of sorts. Like it's like mostly CBD, but
• 2:02
  it has a little bit and we'll like Nix that out of the in
• 2:06
  competition rules. So like you're allowed to
• 2:09
  anyway. I was like, no, don't take it
• 2:11
  'cause sometimes it can have adverse effects where like you
• 2:14
  don't sleep and then you just feel for lack of like high and
• 2:19
  not sleeping. And I was like, don't take it.
• 2:22
  Just like lay there and I tossed and turn and all of a sudden
• 2:24
  it's like one, I'm like, I'm going to take it.
• 2:27
  And then so like I took it and then like an hour and a half
• 2:31
  later when it like kicked in, I was like wide awake.
• 2:35
  All right, so she says she takes a THC micro dosed THC gummy that
• 2:44
  is mostly CBD, but it does have some THC in it.
• 2:49
  And I mean I don't know all of the anti doping rules, but when
• 2:57
  she made the comment about will saying I nixed that from it.
• 3:04
  It it kind of piqued my interest like wait, something is going on
• 3:08
  here. And so I started looking into it
• 3:13
  and following the rulebook. So world fitness project does
• 3:17
  have its own rulebook and you'll see right here page 2.
• 3:26
  It says that here is the anti doping policy.
• 3:30
  We then go to the drug testing policy, which is AI guess on the
• 3:34
  Google Drive and you Scroll down and it has all kinds of stuff
• 3:38
  about, you know, testing in their their testing pools, how
• 3:44
  it works when you're, you know, you do test for something that
• 3:47
  you shouldn't down here in the appendices, it says
• 3:52
  cannabinoids. And so, and, and, and just for a
• 3:58
  little clarification, this appendices that the World
• 4:00
  Fitness Project bans the following classes of drugs at
• 4:02
  all times and bans the following classes of drugs in competition.
• 4:08
  That is word for word the same as what is in the CrossFit Games
• 4:12
  drug policy. I think it's pretty standard.
• 4:15
  I think it may even be very similar to WADA, but just kind
• 4:18
  of, you know, a little bit less detailed.
• 4:22
  But this is what the CrossFit Games has been dealing with or
• 4:25
  have been using for years and they're not as WADA goes into a
• 4:29
  lot of detail about everything you can and cannot take CrossFit
• 4:33
  basically points you to WADA to say, let's take a look at that.
• 4:38
  So cannabinoids, when you search what is under that, it
• 4:45
  technically is THC. And so let's see if you go down
• 4:52
  here in the article, it kind of I kind of still fall out.
• 4:58
  All right. So cannabinoids are not allowed.
• 5:02
  And basically what WADA says in their sect in their their rule
• 5:06
  book, it says cannabinoids are prohibited in competition, in
• 5:15
  competition. The definition of in competition
• 5:17
  per WADA is you'll see it up here, the period commencing just
• 5:25
  before midnight on the day before the competition.
• 5:27
  So this will be Thursday night at 11:59 PM and it runs through
• 5:33
  the end of the competition in the sample collection process,
• 5:36
  so Sunday evening. So from that time period there
• 5:41
  are certain things that you cannot take while you are
• 5:46
  competing. You can take those those things
• 5:51
  outside of that window. So technically Alex could take
• 5:56
  that on Thursday morning, assuming that she would not get
• 5:58
  tested for it at you know, and it would come under the 150
• 6:04
  nanoliter or nanograms per milliliter.
• 6:09
  And so a cannabidiol, cannabidiol, bidiol, I don't
• 6:15
  know, CBD does not fall under this, right?
• 6:18
  But actual cannabis, THCS and synthetic cannabinoids that
• 6:25
  mimic THC are all banned in competition.
• 6:30
  OK, So we know Ghazan took it. She said she had taken it.
• 6:39
  But we don't know, does that violate technically, does it
• 6:44
  violate the drug testing policy? Right, because you still have to
• 6:48
  be above a certain threshold. And so I'm basically calling
• 6:53
  that out. And when you think about the
• 6:58
  CrossFit game season, right, like Andrew Hiller was
• 7:02
  sanctioned for admitting that he used a substance that was
• 7:07
  banned. He was never tested and he
• 7:09
  received a four year sanction. Alex has technically admitted
• 7:15
  that she has used a banned substance.
• 7:19
  I think on Sivan's podcast, she said that she used one that had
• 7:21
  two milligrams of THC in it. You know, at the time of writing
• 7:26
  this, I didn't know if she may have had a therapeutic use
• 7:29
  exemption. Not sure.
• 7:34
  And we don't know what her drug results to her drug test come
• 7:37
  has come back at the comments immediately go to well, why is
• 7:45
  THC even being a banned substance?
• 7:48
  You guys are missing the point. It doesn't I don't care about
• 7:52
  that right? Like unfortunately the rules are
• 7:53
  the rules and I'm saying that the rules state that Alex should
• 7:58
  not have taken it and she knows this right?
• 8:04
  Like if we go to, let's see, when she was talking to Sivan on
• 8:10
  the phone today, here it is. She says this.
• 8:16
  They're literally like CBD with my godos THC and it's allowed
• 8:20
  out of competition. Like in the rules, you're
• 8:22
  allowed to have THC out of competition for the games.
• 8:27
  Oh, you. Are OK, but you're good, Yeah.
• 8:30
  So you're you're allowed. To outside of the.
• 8:32
  Games and then the only situation is like in
• 8:35
  competition, you're not supposed to have THC.
• 8:37
  And so like the games and all that, like I don't take them,
• 8:40
  but it's like I said it's micro dose.
• 8:41
  And so I kind of forgot and I took 1 and I was freaking out
• 8:45
  and before the drug testing I went and asked Will and I was
• 8:47
  like, hey, like should I be worried?
• 8:49
  Like it's I think it's like 2 milligrams of THD for the one
• 8:53
  gummy. And he's like, no, you're like
• 8:55
  you're fine. Like I took that out of the in
• 8:57
  person or in person section 'cause if you're allowed to all
• 9:00
  the time, like it doesn't make a difference.
• 9:03
  I can guarantee you it did not enhance my performance.
• 9:06
  If anything it fucked me up. Yeah, OK, good all.
• 9:10
  Right. Hey.
• 9:12
  So, I mean, I don't know, I'm more just nervous now.
• 9:15
  Everyone. People are trolls on the
• 9:17
  Internet, so this is about to probably be fun.
• 9:20
  Yeah, it will. It'll be fun.
• 9:22
  Enjoy it. I'm glad you enjoy.
• 9:24
  So Jake, I see you're in the comments.
• 9:26
  I think the performance in drugs is a lot different than a sleepy
• 9:29
  gummy. I completely agree.
• 9:32
  And again, my whole point of this is not to say that I agree
• 9:38
  with what is being banned and not banned.
• 9:41
  Like personally, it's probably doesn't need to be part of it,
• 9:44
  right? Like things have changed.
• 9:45
  I don't know what is reasoning for saying that you cannot take
• 9:50
  it during a competition, right? Like why can you not take it
• 9:54
  during a competition, but you can take it a week prior to.
• 9:59
  So I, I, I'm not trying to argue that.
• 10:02
  I'm not even trying to say like that the WFP should sanction
• 10:09
  Alex. My biggest concern is what she
• 10:13
  said that Will told her and that is I've nixed that from in
• 10:20
  competition testing. I just showed you in the rule
• 10:27
  book that you can click on right now, it says that cannabinoids
• 10:34
  are not to be used during competition in the World Fitness
• 10:37
  Projects rule book. Anybody outside of Alex Kazan
• 10:45
  would not have information like this.
• 10:49
  And so if you think about let's let's take a different scenario.
• 10:54
  Let's say that Brooke Wells was doing a podcast and she said
• 11:01
  that she took some THC and she was freaking out because she had
• 11:08
  a drug test and she asked Dave about it.
• 11:11
  And Dave said, Dave Castro said, don't don't worry, you're fine.
• 11:16
  I'm taking it out. Everybody would lose their
• 11:20
  freaking mind. Everybody they'd say it's
• 11:23
  rigged. Dave Castro's protecting the
• 11:25
  people he likes. This is, you know, it's just
• 11:29
  CrossFit being CrossFit now. There's a few people out there,
• 11:34
  but a lot of people are just attacking.
• 11:37
  Why is THC even being an issue? They're not missing.
• 11:41
  They're missing the point of a director of sport just said
• 11:48
  that. Don't worry, I've changed the
• 11:52
  rules without changing the rules.
• 11:58
  Like that's a problem right? I I the Seth D Am I on her side
• 12:09
  or is this more aimed at WFP and Will?
• 12:12
  I'm not trying to take a side on this.
• 12:14
  I'm trying to point out the issues that are in the comment
• 12:18
  section, right. And I think it also indicates
• 12:24
  like we've seen CrossFit in the past.
• 12:28
  I wrote about it last year. This Marcia Van Gladden CrossFit
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  has the ability to sanction an athlete who has been it's under
• 12:40
  a sanction by another governing body.
• 12:42
  In a marsh's case last year it was a a masters competition in
• 12:46
  2021, weightlifting and she CrossFit saw my article and they
• 12:53
  ended up giving giving her the sanction and she could not
• 12:56
  compete at the CrossFit Games in the masters division.
• 13:01
  So the question is, does CrossFit do anything right?
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  Does does does admission of taking something you're not
• 13:14
  supposed to be when competing in a competition that's not
• 13:17
  CrossFit Games related? Does CrossFit have the right,
• 13:24
  the obligation to follow its rule book?
• 13:27
  It says may like does that matter right, if WFP ends up
• 13:36
  sanctioning Alex because maybe her, her, her test comes back
• 13:40
  higher than what it should and they're not going to listen to
• 13:43
  what will said, but it what the rules say.
• 13:45
  It's a little bit more clear cut.
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  Like my guess is CrossFit follows that.
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  But if not, what does CrossFit do right?
• 13:57
  How do you handle a situation that's in my opinion, pretty
• 14:00
  Gray of it's not a CrossFit Games competition.
• 14:05
  She just said she took it. We don't have a test at this
• 14:08
  point if, if World Fitness Project doesn't report it
• 14:12
  because Will decided to not follow what's in the rule book,
• 14:16
  what does CrossFit do right? And you still have a situation
• 14:29
  where World Fitness Project is and Will made a comment to an
• 14:35
  athlete that is in contrast to what they have written.
• 14:42
  So here we go Alex. I think it's important that not
• 14:51
  to note that this was not a special word for me.
• 14:53
  They have had this in policy since working with drug free
• 14:56
  sport in March. I see the frustration of the
• 14:59
  rule book not being updated right.
• 15:05
  So if I'm Colton Merton's or I'm whoever else, maybe not a pro
• 15:12
  athlete, I don't know, maybe this is communicated to the pro
• 15:14
  athletes and not others. And I and I, I need sleep and I
• 15:21
  need to take THC, but I don't because it's in the rule book on
• 15:23
  those three days. How do you manage that, right?
• 15:31
  Like, how do you, what do you do about that?
• 15:37
  Riley? I'm going to take down the WFP.
• 15:43
  First of all, everything's forgotten about in a week.
• 15:45
  Everything. But when people are in the
• 15:48
  comments and they are arguing about whether THC should or
• 15:51
  should not be banned, you guys are missing the point.
• 15:53
  And so I figured I'd go alive and explain why I wrote it.
• 15:58
  It wasn't a slow Newsday, right? Like these are things that you
• 16:03
  need to talk about if you want to be a professional sport.
• 16:10
  How does WFP handle it? If one thing was said but the
• 16:13
  rule book says another, how do you handle it?
• 16:15
  What are you going to do? What is CrossFit going to do
• 16:20
  given that one of their top athletes is in this situation?
• 16:30
  So, you know, that is what I want to jump on here for.
• 16:38
  Jeff. Yes, there is a rule book out
• 16:40
  there. Go to the website.
• 16:41
  It's out there. Jessica, this will fall on will
• 16:48
  not. Alex.
• 16:49
  Again, I don't know how, I don't know what what's been discussed
• 16:51
  outside of what is actually been officially published.
• 16:55
  So we'll have to wait and see. I don't know what World Fitness
• 16:59
  Project will do. Will is not responded to a text
• 17:03
  last week about joining the podcast last night.
• 17:06
  I don't think they have any interest in talking.
• 17:08
  But anyway, that is what is going on with it.
• 17:13
  That is why I wanted to make the story.
• 17:16
  It's looking at the situation of what was said and how that could
• 17:21
  have an impact to everybody involved.
• 17:25
  I have no idea shiz what the CBD brand is.
• 17:28
  So that's it guys. He communicated the same rule to
• 17:39
  all the athletes. The only issue is the rule book
• 17:41
  wasn't updated but all the athletes were aware so who
• 17:43
  cares. I don't know if that's true.
• 17:46
  Riley. Alex was concerned up into the
• 17:51
  drug test on Sunday. She had forgotten that she had
• 17:54
  taken it, so that would not be the case.
• 18:02
  Tyler. No call or text.
• 18:04
  Rude. You can jump on it anytime,
• 18:05
  Tyler. But you have the link.
• 18:12
  All right? I don't know.
• 18:17
  Anyway, that is all I got. Go check out the the article.
• 18:23
  Read it. I think I've pretty much
• 18:25
  outlined it. I think a lot of people who did
• 18:27
  comment on it did not actually read the article.
• 18:31
  So do that and then go back and comment and see if I was unfair
• 18:37
  to Alex or anybody else. I apologize to absolutely
• 18:42
  nobody.