Mexican Para swimmer Luis Armando Andrade Guillen has been given a nine month ban for an anti-doping rules violation. He tested positive for the banned substance Carboxy-THC, a biomarker for marijuana usage, at the Para Swimming World Series in Mexico on June 14, 2025.
In 2013, the World Anti-Doping Association significantly raised its threshold for what is considered a positive test for THC amid changing global attitudes about the substance. The threshold then increased from 15 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL.
By comparison, the federal workplace cutoff for a positive test in the United States uses an initial cutoff of 50 ng/mL and a confirmatory cutoff of 15 ng/mL. THC is only prohibited in competition.
Guillen accepted the Anti-Doping Rules Violation and suspension without appeal. He began a voluntary provisional suspension on August 27, 2025 and is eligible to return to competition on May 27, 2026.
THC is listed as both a Specified Substance and a Substance of Abuse by the World Anti-Doping Code. Specified Substances are more likely to have a credible non-doping use, meaning that authorities are allowed to reduce suspensions from the standard two year/four year protocols.
Its classification as “Substances of Abuse” allows a reduced three month suspension as a diversionary practice, but according to World Para Swimming, “The case was not dealt with under the Substance of Abuse provisions of the Code because the athlete was unable to establish that his use of Carboxy-THC occurred entirely out-of-competition and for reasons unrelated to sporting performance.”
The tribunal did decide that there was No Significant Fault or Negligence for the violation, and still reduced the suspension from the default two years to nine months.
In addition to the suspension, all results obtained in the 200 IM at the 2025 Para Swimming World Series Mexico are forfeited, as well as any results at that meet and since that meet.
Guillen, 31, has five World Championship medals in sprint freestyle and butterfly events from the 2015 and 2017 World Para Swimming Championships. All are bronze and four of the five came in individual events.
At the meet where the positive test came, he finished 5th in the 50 free final.
How dare he smoke the devil’s lettuce!!!!!
Free bro
“you are too chill, get out of our competition”
Why are they even testing for marijuana? It is not performance enhancing and now legal in most states.
1) “Most states” is not the world.
2) Maybe 10 years ago, I asked a marijuana expert if marijuana was performance enhancing. He gave me an emphatic and enthusiastic yes. It was based on his typical modus operandus of trying to sell the benefits of marijuana, though I was pretty clear in my question that it related to its position as a banned substance.
The real line on banned vs. not isn’t actually “performance enhancement.” There are lots of legal things that are “performance enhancing” if you stretch the definition enough. The lines are a bit arbitrary, but seems to be more a function of “fairness” or “should an athlete have to take this substance which could harm them… Read more »
I think you mean THC is not considered a doping offense OUT of season. Don’t want unthinking national teamers to be running to their bongs thinking the rules changed during comp season.
Not out of season. Out of COMPETITION. Big difference
duuuuude?
i think the issue here is the type of para athlete. It can be used for pain management in say a person post-amputation. But it can also be used to reduce spasticity in someone with a spinal cord injury or cerebral palsy. And while I would not argue against that in general for those who feel they benefit. But in a competition setting there cannot be the use of non-FDA (or whatever governing body) of drugs that might cause dependency that could be detrimental. Plus it is not approved in all USA states or all countries of the world. Many potential issues.
The swimmer reportedly smoked two joints before he smoked two joints and then he smoked two more.
Then he drank a beer. Then he had another beer. 3 beers. 4 beers. 5 beers
Curious if any kids will get the reference to a 34yr old song…
Specifically, the two in time of war, are what he got busted for.