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Olympics: Coffee allowed but cannabis banned
Associated Press Otago Daily Times, New Zealand
Friday 19 Sep 2003 London: Drinking too much coffee or taking a common cold tablet will no longer get athletes disqualified from the Olympics for a doping offence. A positive test for marijuana, though, will still result in a drug penalty. So will the medication at the centre of American sprinter Kelli White's doping scandal. That is the scenario under the proposed new global list of banned substances drawn up by the World Anti-Doping Agency. After more than two years of research, analysis and debate, experts have produced an all-encompassing list of prohibited steroids, stimulants, blood-boosters, narcotics and other drugs. Among the key recommendations: caffeine and pseudoephedrine, an ingredient of the cold remedy Sudafed, are removed from the banned category. Cannabis, or marijuana, remains on the list. Modafinil, which could cost White her two world championship gold medals, is specifically named for the first time among the banned stimulants. The decisions were confirmed by Prof Arne Ljungqvist, the Swedish anti-doping official who heads WADA's medical research committee. "We must adjust our list to modern thinking and to changes of attitude and changes of knowledge," he said. The list must still be approved by the doping agency's executive committee, which meets in Montreal on Monday and Tuesday. If ratified, it will go into effect starting January 1 and apply to all sports and all countries covered by WADA's global anti-doping code. The list will be in force for next year's Summer Olympics in Athens. It replaces previous Olympic movement banned lists, which were more limited in scope and enforcement. Ljungqvist, chairman of the medical commissions of the IOC and the International Association of Athletics Federations, said individual sports bodies will have the option of adding substances to the list if they get WADA approval. The decision to omit caffeine, pseudoephedrine and another minor stimulant, phenylpropanolamine, from the list would prevent further cases of athletes being disqualified and stripped of medals for what some considered innocuous reasons. Previously, a urine sample showing a concentration of caffeine greater than 12 micrograms per millilitre was considered a positive test. - AP Friday, 19-September 2003
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