Major League Baseball’s approach to cannabis has shifted dramatically over the past decade, moving from strict prohibition toward a more nuanced, health-focused framework. The turning point came in the 2019–20 offseason, when MLB and the MLB Players Association agreed to overhaul the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Natural cannabinoids such as THC, marijuana and CBD were removed from the league’s list of “Drugs of Abuse,” while mandatory testing for opioids and certain other substances was expanded.
The current Joint Drug Program, incorporated into the 2022–2026 collective bargaining agreement, explicitly states that natural cannabinoids are not treated as Drugs of Abuse, even though synthetic THC and other cannabimimetics remain banned. In practical terms, that means major league players are no longer subject to random testing for marijuana in the way they are for performance-enhancing drugs. Instead, cannabis use is handled more like alcohol: the league focuses on problematic behavior — such as impairment on duty, law violations or repeated off-field issues — rather than simple presence of THC in a test. For minor leaguers, the same 2019 policy changes eliminated suspensions for marijuana alone and shifted the emphasis to education and treatment instead of punishment.
That doesn’t mean MLB is laissez-faire about cannabis. In February 2020, the Commissioner’s Office issued a formal Cannabis Use Policy memo to all clubs. The document makes clear that smoking or vaping marijuana in or around club facilities, or appearing under the influence during games, practices, workouts or meetings, is prohibited and will trigger mandatory evaluation under the league’s alcohol and cannabinoid treatment programs. Players and staff can also be disciplined for violating federal, state or local marijuana laws — for example, illegal possession, distribution or driving under the influence. The memo underscores that traveling across state or international borders with cannabis remains risky, given federal law and often harsher penalties abroad.
Medical use is another friction point. Even in states with legal medical marijuana, MLB club doctors are barred from prescribing, dispensing or formally recommending cannabis products because natural cannabinoids are still controlled under federal law. Clubs also may not store or provide cannabinoid products in team facilities, in part due to contamination concerns and DEA and FDA rules. Instead, MLB has chosen a conservative lane: it works with NSF International to identify hemp-derived CBD products that are contaminant-free and under the 0.3% THC threshold. That framework paved the way for the league’s groundbreaking 2022 partnership with Charlotte’s Web, making it the first “Official CBD of Major League Baseball,” and opened NSF-certified CBD sponsorships to clubs starting with the 2023 season.
As federal regulators debate moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, MLB’s policy sits in an in-between space: more permissive toward responsible use, but still tightly bound to federal and state law, workplace safety and the integrity of competition. For players, the message is straightforward: cannabis is no longer an automatic career-threatening violation — but it is still something that must be managed carefully, especially when the line between legal personal use and off-field liability can change the moment they put on a uniform.
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