SUSPENSION NOT ONLY THING HURTING JOINES

Sit-Skier Used Marijuana For Medicinal Purposes

EDMONTON - Ross Rebagliati pleaded it was second-hand smoke that led
to his positive drug test for marijuana and he got to keep his Olympic
snowboarding gold medal in 1988 with no suspension.

Disabled sit-skier Kimberley Joines used marijuana for medicinal
purposes so she fessed up to using it after testing positive in
January and was handed a nine-month suspension on Thursday.

"Technically that's about the maximum you can get for admitting guilt
on this type of substance," said the 26-year-old Edmontonian, who was
withdrawn from competition last winter as soon as the positive result
was known.

Joines said when she started using marijuana she also started the
procedure to get Health Canada approval, only to discover that while
the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports would grant an exemption
allowing its use, the World Anti-Drug Agency would not.

"As it is against the rules, I will not attempt to do that ever
again," she said.

The problem is trying to find a suitable substitute.

"The team is working diligently at finding an alternative but it
involves running through a whole lot of prescription drugs that, in my
opinion, mess you up a whole lot more. I've never found a prescription
drug that relieved me (of the pain) the way marijuana did."

Joines became a paraplegic when she landed badly in a snowboarding
accident in 2000 and has suffered from a lot of pain since. Her
problems have been compounded by a series of injuries on the World Cup
circuit, including cracked ribs when she fell off a chair lift in
Aspen, Colo., in January, 2005, and a broken femur that same winter.

A bronze medallist at the 2006 Paralympic Games in Turin, Italy,
Joines tested positive at a World Cup race in Aspen. Alpine Canada
immediately withdrew her from further competition and the
International Paralympic

Committee finally handed down its decision Thursday, the nine-month
suspension retroactive to the date of the infraction -- Jan. 17.

While she will have served her suspension before next season begins,
Joines also lost her Sport Canada funding of $1,500 a month, her
primary source of income.

"That's the kicker, the tough one," she said, adding she will now
actively be seeking additional sponsorship to try to make up for the
loss funding.

To get her funding re-instated, she will have to re-qualify next
season. That shouldn't be a problem since she is one of the top
disabled skiers in the world but she still hasn't been told by the
disabled ski team if she will be allowed to train with them in the
pre-season to get ready for the season.

"If you read between the lines, her nine-month suspension started the
day she was found to have taken the banned substance last January so
it's finished before next season's World Cup circuit starts," said
Brian MacPherson, chief operating officer of the Canadian Paralympic
Committee.

"I think that's good and significant. I'm told she was remorseful when
told there was a positive test ... I think that had a bearing on the
sanction handed down."

Ken Read, chief executive officer of Alpine Canada, said the IPC took
into consideration the fact Joines was immediately withdrawn from
further competition, that Alpine Canada had a hearing and sanctioned
her, and that she was forthcoming.

"The good thing about all this is Kimberley, when she had the test,
she immediately came forward," said Read. "She's been honest, she's
co-operated fully so no one had ducked any responsibility."

With the suspension ending before the start of next season Joines said
she will definitely be back competing.

"Oh God, yes, absolutely. I was in fine form last year. I won my first
race by four seconds ... my training has put me in that place where I
should be able to kick some serious butt, so it was very frustrating
to have this happen."

Read said Alpine Canada will remain fully supportive of Joines when
she returns and has been in her corner throughout the long process
that led to Thursday's decision.

"We tried to be supportive, to respect where she's coming from,
respect who she is, it's part of why she's been able to overcome
disabilities to become one of the best competitors in the world in her
given sport.

"It's a disappointing situation, but it's one that we want her to take
the punishment and move on."