UFC bantamweight, Jessica Eye, recently got popped for pot and put on a probationary suspension by the state of Texas. Subsequently, the MMA world turned against her, media and fans alike. (not us though)
Now it comes out, thanks to the good guys over at ESPN, that she tested positive for just 16 ng/ML marijuana metabolites.
The 16ng is the key to understanding the level of drugs in her system. It’s virtually nothing.
According to our guys over at MMA.TV her levels were so low that the Texas Athletic Commission is the only organization that really cares.
Here’s their breakdown:
Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs have a cutoff of 50 ng/ML. World Anti-Doping Agency has a threshold of 150 ng/ML. Eye was at 11% of the level that would have been okay for the Olympics. No fighter should compete high, or for that matter drunk, but penalizing someone in this day and age for 16 ng/ML is an embarrassment to the sport.
Multiple studies have shown that 16 ng/ML is consistent with passive smoking:
•The first study was conducted by Perez-Reyes and co-workers in 1983. (1-3) The study consisted of three different experiments; one conducted in an automobile, and two in a small room. Of the specimens collected for analysis, two specimens were found positive for THC metabolites by the EMIT screening test at a cutoff level of 20 ng/ml.
•Morland et al. (5) performed a study in which subjects in a car smoked marijuana… The subjects passively exposed to marijuana smoke did show occasional urine specimens that were positive at concentrations ranging from 14 to 30 ng/ml of total THC metabolites.