ATHLETES RUN AFOUL OF NEW ANTI-DOPE TEST

Now includes cannabis

MONTREAL - Judging by the flurry of news releases coming out of the national
anti-doping program, these are dark days for Canadian sport. "Junior
Football Athletes Commit Anti-Doping Rule Violations," read an announcement
last week. "Acadia University Athlete Commits Anti-Doping Rule Violation,"
said another the previous week. Bulletins in December flagged doping
transgressions by a member of the University of Prince Edward Island women's
soccer team and a football receiver for St. Mary's University in Halifax.

The athletes in question are not steroid-abusing cheats, however. In each
case, the prohibited substance detected in random post-game tests was
cannabis.

As part of Canada's adherence to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of
banned substances, drug-testing of athletes from Olympians to teenaged
football players now includes screening for marijuana, which can remain
detectable for weeks after consumption.

"If you can think of a product that is less performance-enhancing than
marijuana, please let me know," Joe Berghello, president of Montreal's North
Shore Football League, said this week, reacting to news that two players on
the North Shore Broncos were reprimanded after their urine tests came back
positive for cannabis.

"What are you testing for? Are you testing to make sure that no one is
cheating by using performance-enhancing drugs -- stimulants or steroids? Or
are you just testing to find contraband?"

An official with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the federally
funded agency that administers Canada's anti-doping program, sounded almost
apologetic about the rash of positive cannabis tests announced by the
centre.

"We have to accept the rules that are given to us," Joseph de Pencier, who
directs the domestic anti-doping program, said in an interview. "We perhaps
would like to see a little more flexibility on stuff like this [cannabis]
that is not so central to the fight against doping."

The centre began widespread screening for cannabis on Jan. 1, 2004, after
some countries, led by the United States, lobbied successfully to have the
drug included on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list. Canada had
objected to its inclusion. In an advisory to athletes posted on its Web
site, the centre cautions that traces of cannabis "may be detected in an
athlete's urine sample for several weeks when used heavily and frequently,
and for 10 or more days after a single exposure."

In a country with relatively liberal attitudes toward marijuana, where the
government is proposing to decriminalize possession, the rule change has had
a big impact. Of the 10 Canadian athletes found to have committed doping
violations in 2004, six were for cannabis use. Two were for cocaine, one was
for elevated testosterone levels and the other was for prednisone, a
steroid.

When an athlete can establish that the cannabis was not consumed to give a
competitive edge, a first offence generally results in a warning and
reprimand. But if he is caught a second time, the penalty is a two-year ban
from competition. A third infraction results in a lifetime ban.

Athletes can also be stripped of honours if they test positive. Ivan
Birungi, a wide receiver with the Acadia Axemen who led his conference in
scoring last season with 11 touchdowns, forfeited his Second-Team
All-Canadian status this month after testing positive for cannabis. Mike
O'Toole, an Ontario high-jumper, lost his third-place finish at last July's
Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships following a positive test for
cannabis.

Marg McGregor, chief executive officer of Canadian Interuniversity Sport,
worries about the potential employment problems a publicized doping
violation could pose.

In an effort to prevent countries from covering up their athletes' doping
violations, Canada has committed to issuing a news release whenever one of
its own athletes is caught. So when it comes to publicity, the centre treats
university athletes who smoked marijuana no differently from someone caught
taking steroids.

"We certainly have questioned, is it really necessary to do a media release,
because there is the public embarrassment, and potentially it has some
impact on career choice of student athletes who might have wanted to go into
law enforcement or law school or whatever," Ms. McGregor said. "Now if you
just Google their name, up would pop a cannabis infraction."

She said she would prefer student athletes were not being tested for
cannabis, but it is impossible to opt out of the anti-doping regime for a
particular substance.

Mr. Birungi said he finds the attention given to cannabis consumption
overblown. "I know athletes have a higher profile and all that, but basic
students at any Canadian university, especially Canadian universities,
chances are they're smoking pot," he said. He said he finds it inconsistent
that student athletes are being tested while the pros in the Canadian
Football League are not.

Canadian officials say the United States had a large role in getting
cannabis included on the list of prohibited substances. "I guess their point
of view is that marijuana is bad for you -- it's a health risk, and that it
is unethical," Mr. de Pencier said.

He said Canada would prefer devoting its anti-doping resources to substances
that give athletes an unfair advantage, such as human-growth hormones and
the so-called designer steroids.

"I don't think we've changed our view that the way the World Code and the
list treat cannabis is not quite right, and we intend to continue pursuing
that issue internationally," Mr. de Pencier said. "It takes a lot of time
and money to do this analysis and to deal with the individual cases, and
maybe in the fight against doping that shouldn't be the priority."