Pubdate: Thu, 05 Apr 2007
Source: Vue Weekly (CN AB)
Copyright: 2007, Vue Weekly.
Contact:  http://www.vueweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2918
Author: Ross Moroz
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

HIGHER, FASTER, STRONGER ... AND HIGHER

The list of chemicals anti-doping officials look for when testing 
high-performance athletes is long and varied. Substances ranging from 
potent illegal steroids to many common cold medications are banned, 
and athletes found with even minute levels of these drugs in their 
systems face incredibly harsh penalties, including suspension, 
punishment and the revoking of medals and titles, not to mention the 
damage done to the reputation of an athlete who is branded as a drug cheat.

This uncompromising punitive approach is justified by the noble goal 
of protecting the purity of sport and preventing the cheats from 
gaining an advantage over athletes that follow the rules and remain 
clean. Few athletes, officials or spectators would ever argue that 
competitors trying to gain an edge by using illegal and potentially 
dangerous steroids or other capability-increasing drugs ought not be 
exposed and severely punished.

But when it comes to substances that do not seem to have any 
performance enhancing qualities-chiefly marijuana-there is growing 
debate among anti-doping officials.

"Get out of the social drug scene," Joanne Mortimore, CEO of 
Athletics Canada, told CBC News. "Let's stick on high performance 
drugs and not bother with [marijuana]."

Her comments echo sentiments expressed by sport and government 
representatives from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom who 
recently called for an end to testing athletes for pot use.

Joseph de Pencier of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which 
handles the testing of athletes in Canada, agrees with the idea in 
theory, although he warns that getting the worldwide athletics 
community on board with the proposal might be difficult.

"I don't think it's a fight that Canada and some other countries are 
going to win about getting cannabis off the list altogether," he told 
the CBC. "I think we're just whistling in the wind on that one."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the highest-profile athlete who ever faced 
punitive action for testing positive for cannabis agrees that the ban 
on marijuana ought to be ended.

"There's no real reason for it to be on the list in the first place," 
1998 Olympic gold medalist Ross Rebagliati told Vue from Whistler, 
where he is currently training in hopes of competing at the 2010 Olympics.

"I think that the IOC [International Olympic Committee] and everybody 
else related to the list of banned substances is mainly concentrating 
on maintaining a fair and level playing field for everybody," he 
continued. "There's no evidence to suggest that marijuana is in any 
way a performance enhancing drug, so they're really kind of, in my 
mind and in the minds of a lot of people, over-stepping the 
boundaries from fair play into social activities that are irrelevant."

While Rebagliati deftly deflected questions about his own use of 
marijuana, he emphasized that, regardless of the morality or legality 
of smoking pot, its prohibition in sport misses the point of testing 
athletes for drugs.

"There shouldn't be anything else involved in [drug testing] other 
than to make it fair for the other athletes," he insisted. "It's not 
a social thing, it's not to check if you're a good person or a bad person.

"It's fair for the other athletes," Rebagliati added. "That's the whole point."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom