Professional Sport Due Diligence

“My reputation, my reputation! I’ve lost my reputation, the longest-living and truest part of myself!”
[Othello, William Shakespeare]

We would not consider quoting Shakespeare in other circumstances, but professional sport is perhaps the last remaining environment in which an individual’s reputation is the absolute definition of them: as an athlete and as a person – it is their legacy.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s approach is that an athlete assumes the risk that a nutritional supplement may be mislabelled or contaminated and is strictly liable for ingesting any banned substance: “Because the risks of mislabelling and/or contamination now are generally known or at least foreseeable, all athletes must exercise reasonable care to ensure a nutritional supplement does not contain a banned substance whether the WADA Code classifies it as a prohibited or specified substance.”
[CAS 2010/A/2107 OLEVEIRA V USADA]

At The Canna Consultants we offer services to all of those involved in the decision-making process concerning the performance and wellbeing: Professional Sportsmen and Sportswomen, Professional Coaches, Professional Clubs, National Associations, Governing Bodies and, importantly, product manufacturers.

PROFESSIONAL SPORTSMEN & SPORTSWOMEN

PROFESSIONAL COACHES

PROFESSIONAL CLUBS

NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

GOVERNING BODIES

PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS

PROFESSIONAL SPORTSMEN AND SPORTSWOMEN

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with you, the athlete.

From the moment that you consider taking any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and their consequences to you and your career.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to professional athletes on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on the product and its manufacturer – and the latter is just as important as the former given that you will be placing your career, funding and livelihood in their hands.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

PROFESSIONAL COACHES

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their Coach, to guide them, to mentor them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and the consequences to the careers of you and your athletes.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to professional Coaches on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on the product and its manufacturer – and the latter is just as important as the former given that you will be placing your career, funding and livelihood in their hands.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

PROFESSIONAL CLUBS AND TEAMS

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their Club or Team, to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and their consequences to the careers of your athletes and the reputational risk to your Club and Team.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to professional Clubs and Teams on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on the product and its manufacturer – and the latter is just as important as the former given that you will be placing your career, funding and livelihood in their hands.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND TEAMS

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their National Association or Team, to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and their consequences to your athletes, and the reputational risk to your associated members and your Association.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to National Associations and Teams on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on the product and its manufacturer – and the latter is just as important as the former given that you will be placing your career, funding and livelihood in their hands.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

GOVERNING BODIES

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, their Governing Body to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you consider advising any of your athletes to take any supplement, particularly one from such a new market and the CBD sector, you should be thinking about from whom you will take advice as to the described contents, the potential contents and their consequences to your athletes, and the reputational risk to your associated members and your Body.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to Governing Bodies on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on the product and its manufacturer – and the latter is just as important as the former given that you will be placing your career, funding and livelihood in their hands.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.

PRODUCT MANUFACTURERS

The responsibility for due diligence cannot be abrogated by the individual sportsman or sportswoman and the liability for any transgression rests solely with the athlete, but the athlete relies upon you, the product manufacturer and the holder of the “keys to the data”, to guide them and to protect them from unnecessary risks.

From the moment that you introduce your product to the sports supplement market, or engage with athletes as to the contents of your products, or become aware that they might be used by such athletes, then you expose yourself to the risks consequent upon inadvertent mislabelling, or negligent mis-statement.

At The Canna Consultants we can provide independent advice to Product Manufacturers on all of the relevant issues, as well as undertake full due diligence on their products, their constituent ingredients and the providers of those ingredients.

A pertinent example from last year is Yoel Romero, a UFC athlete who secured damages of $27.45 million following a positive test for a prohibited substance due to the consumption of a mis-labelled supplement product. The Court ruled that he was entitled to $9 million in direct damages, but then awarded a further $18.45 million because the supplement manufacturer was aware of the presence of the substance, but failed to provide any warning of its presence. The three-year saga did not end happily for anyone: the company went bankrupt, all of its staff lost their jobs and Romero did not receive a cent of his damages award.

We repeat what is necessarily becoming our well-worn phrase:

Be Careful Who You Listen To.