The National Hockey League has quietly become one of the most distinctive case studies in how professional sports handle cannabis. While the league still tests for THC, its policy treats cannabis use primarily as a private health issue rather than a disciplinary matter – a stance that sets it apart from the NFL, NBA, and MLB in important ways.
Under the NHL/NHLPA system, players are subject to “no-notice” testing that can include screening for cannabinoids. However, a positive THC result does not automatically trigger a fine, suspension, or public disclosure. Instead, results are reviewed by the joint Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health (SABH) program. Only when a test shows “abnormally high” or “dangerously high” levels of THC is a player identified and quietly referred to SABH doctors for evaluation and possible treatment. Chronic cannabis use is treated in the same bucket as alcohol misuse or other substance concerns: as a medical and behavioral challenge to be managed, not a moral failing to be punished.
By contrast, the NFL has only recently shifted away from a strongly punitive model. Under the 2020 collective bargaining agreement, the league dramatically narrowed the testing window to the first two weeks of training camp, raised the THC threshold for a positive test from 35 to 150 ng/mL, and eliminated suspensions for positive marijuana tests. Offending players are now routed toward clinical review and possible treatment instead of automatic bans. Even so, cannabis use remains formally framed as a policy violation, and positive tests still place players within a monitored intervention system.
The NBA has moved in a different direction: de-emphasizing cannabis entirely as a prohibited substance. Under the 2023 seven-year CBA, marijuana was removed from the league’s banned substances list and the NBA stopped testing for it, while explicitly allowing players to invest in cannabis and CBD companies. Players can still be evaluated if they appear impaired during team activities, but day-to-day personal use is effectively de-criminalized at the league level.
Major League Baseball sits somewhere between these models. Beginning with changes announced in late 2019, MLB removed marijuana and other natural cannabinoids from its “Drugs of Abuse” list. Cannabis use is now treated like alcohol: players may be referred for mandatory evaluation and voluntary treatment, and discipline is tied mainly to off-field conduct rather than simple positive tests.
What makes the NHL unique is that it reached a health-first posture early and has stayed there. Cannabis is not treated as a performance-enhancing drug, and high-THC results lead to confidential clinical responses rather than public sanctions. This approach emerged in a league where many franchises play in jurisdictions with legal medical or adult-use cannabis, and where concussion, chronic pain, and mental-health risks are ongoing concerns for current and former players.
At the same time, the NHL has not gone as far as the NBA in simply dropping cannabis from practical concern. The league still tests; it still tracks patterns of use through its SABH program; and it still reserves the right to intervene when results suggest possible dependence or broader substance-use problems.
In effect, the NHL sits at an intersection of three trends: evolving public cannabis laws, growing sports-medicine interest in cannabinoids, and a gradual shift in leagues from punishment to player health. Whether other organizations ultimately follow the NBA’s “hands-off” stance or the NHL’s “quiet, clinical” model will shape how future athletes navigate cannabis in professional sports.