Over the weekend, President Biden chimed in on the controversial suspension of U.S runner Sha-Carri Richardson for using marijuana.
The President suggested on Saturday that rules banning Olympic athletes from competition for marijuana could potentially change.
“The rules are the rules and everybody knows what the rules were going in,” he said when asked about the suspension of Richardson from at least some events at the upcoming games in Tokyo after she tested positive for cannabis.
“Whether they should remain the rules is a different issue,” Biden added, “but the rules are the rules.”
The day before the President’s comments, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki declined to condemn Olympics officials’ sanction on Richardson when asked about the issue at a briefing with reporters.
Biden said on Saturday that he “was really proud of her and the way she responded” to the controversy surrounding Richardson’s cannabis suspension.
Now the question is if the Biden administration will use its seat on the WADA Foundation board, on which the U.S. is represented by the acting director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to push for reforms.
