Varsity athletes test positive for cannabis
Chris Black
Issue date: 3/22/05 Section: Sports
HAMILTON (CUP) - University athletes have become the outlaws of amateur Canadian sport.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), a federally funded agency that oversees drug testing for Canadian athletes, has seen a dramatic rise in positive tests in the past few months, and pot-smoking students from Nova Scotia to British Columbia are to blame.
Since the inclusion of marijuana on the CCES banned substances list in January 2004, eight Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) athletes have failed drug tests - this after only 30 positive tests were recorded among all university athletes from 1990 to 2003.
"The CCES has dealt with a large number of adverse analytical findings for athlete use of marijuana since the beginning of 2004, when cannabinoids were added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list," said Jeremy Luke, senior manager of the CCES doping control program.
With approximately 5,000 tests administered to varsity athletes since 1990, the positive rate hovered around 0.6 per cent for 13 years. From October to December 2004, that positive rate increased by 500 per cent, as three per cent of CIS athletes tested failed.
"The problem is seen mostly in Canadian Interuniversity Sport ... Our message is simple: athletes should not risk their sporting careers through cannabis use," Luke said.
This is where Luke raises an interesting point, and a highly debated issue among administrators and athletes: are athletes risking anything by using cannabis? Now that it is a banned substance, they surely risk the embarrassment of a positive test, but should it be banned?
"[WADA] forced our hand," said Joseph de Pencier, director of sport services for the CCES, in an interview with The Silhouette last year.
"While we do not view cannabis as performance-enhancing, it's contrary to the spirit of sport," said de Pencier.
In order to encourage honest and open dialogue, The Silhouette conducted an anonymous poll of varsity athletes at McMaster University, and drew interesting responses concerning testing for marijuana.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), a federally funded agency that oversees drug testing for Canadian athletes, has seen a dramatic rise in positive tests in the past few months, and pot-smoking students from Nova Scotia to British Columbia are to blame.
Since the inclusion of marijuana on the CCES banned substances list in January 2004, eight Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) athletes have failed drug tests - this after only 30 positive tests were recorded among all university athletes from 1990 to 2003.
"The CCES has dealt with a large number of adverse analytical findings for athlete use of marijuana since the beginning of 2004, when cannabinoids were added to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list," said Jeremy Luke, senior manager of the CCES doping control program.
With approximately 5,000 tests administered to varsity athletes since 1990, the positive rate hovered around 0.6 per cent for 13 years. From October to December 2004, that positive rate increased by 500 per cent, as three per cent of CIS athletes tested failed.
"The problem is seen mostly in Canadian Interuniversity Sport ... Our message is simple: athletes should not risk their sporting careers through cannabis use," Luke said.
This is where Luke raises an interesting point, and a highly debated issue among administrators and athletes: are athletes risking anything by using cannabis? Now that it is a banned substance, they surely risk the embarrassment of a positive test, but should it be banned?
"[WADA] forced our hand," said Joseph de Pencier, director of sport services for the CCES, in an interview with The Silhouette last year.
"While we do not view cannabis as performance-enhancing, it's contrary to the spirit of sport," said de Pencier.
In order to encourage honest and open dialogue, The Silhouette conducted an anonymous poll of varsity athletes at McMaster University, and drew interesting responses concerning testing for marijuana.
