Diaz Attorney: NSAC wrong in lying accusation
First, Nick Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites for his losing main event fight versus Carlos Condit at UFC 143, an…
First, Nick Diaz tested positive for marijuana metabolites for his losing main event fight versus Carlos Condit at UFC 143, an event regulated by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Then, Diaz’s attorney Ross Goodman said they were going to chalenge the test results, because the statute in question names the active ingredient in marijuana, not the metabolites.
Then the NSAC said that Diaz lied in checking no when asked if he had taken any prescription drugs in the last two weeks. “Not only did Nick Diaz violate the law by testing positive for marijuana metabolites,” said public information officer Jennifer M. Lopez. “He also lied to the Commission on his Pre-Fight Questionnaire when he swore that he had not used any prescribed medications in two weeks before the fight.”
Now, Diaz’s attorney is attacking that line of reasoning as well.
Saying outright that Diaz lied put Goodman even more in attack mode.
The Nevada law that deals with medical marijuana doesn’t regard it as a prescription drug. No doctor is able to prescribe it because it is a controlled substance.
“Nowhere in there does it say that the attending physician is prescribing marijuana,” Goodman said. “And so, for obvious reasons, before you speak and call someone a liar, you think you’d do a little bit of due diligence and understand what the Nevada law actually says.”
“It’s not like you walk into the pharmacy and start looking around on the shelves and hope to pick up a bag of marijuana. That’s ridiculous. No reasonable person would believe that medical marijuana falls under the category of over the counter medications.”
Curiously, though, in his response to the commission, Goodman himself made a big deal about a prescription. He referenced NRS 484C.210, which deals with prohibited substances. Goodman bolded a section which said “if the person who uses the substance has not been issued a valid prescription … “
Diaz may ultimately be forced to accept a lengthy suspension. He was suspended for six months in Nevada in 2007 for failing a marijuana test. On Jan. 31, boxer Matt Vanda had a hearing after testing positive for a second time. Vanda was suspended for a year and fined 40 percent of his purse.