ANTI-DOPING AGENCY DEFENDS STANCE ON CANNABIS

LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has
defended the continued inclusion of cannabis on its prohibited list
of substances following criticism that the ban is placing unnecessary
strain on sporting federations.

IAAF council member and Spanish athletics federation president Jose
Maria Odriozola raised concern about the cannabis ban on Sunday
during a round table discussion on "borderline issues" at an
international anti-doping symposium organised by the world athletics
governing body.

According to Odriozola, federations are "wasting considerable time
and money, dealing with what is essentially a recreational
non-performance-enhancing drug."

Odriozola's comments were firmly rejected by WADA's director of
science, Olivier Rabin.

"We have three criteria for including something on our list of
prohibited substances and methods, at least two of which have to be
met -- performance enhancement, possible health dangers and a
contravention of the spirit of sport," Rabin told Reuters.

"We know full well that cannabis can alleviate feelings of fear which
can help performance in some sports.

"It is also risky for athletes and others around them as it can cause
a distortion of perception and we also believe it violates the spirit
of sport even though we understand it is mainly a social drug."

In a high-profile case concerning cannabis, Canadian snowboarder Ross
Rebagliati was temporarily deprived of his 1998 Olympic giant slalom
gold medal after traces of marijuana were found in his body.

Rebagliati claimed he had inhaled the drug "passively" but his medal
was only returned to him after it was pointed out that cannabis was
not actually banned at the time.

"We think it is now clear to athletes that cannabis is prohibited," Rabin said.

"We can very clearly distinguish between active and passive smoking
and with our current thresholds we are clearly targeting the active
users of cannabis and cannabinoids.

"If we detect levels above these thresholds then we are telling
athletes that will be considered an adverse analytical finding with
potential sanctions.

"Because cannabis is listed as a specified (banned in competition)
substance there is still the possibility that an athlete may first
face a reprimand rather than a sanction."

Cannabis has been included on WADA's list of banned substances and
methods since the list's creation in 2004.

It remains on the new version of the annually-revised list which was
approved by WADA's executive committee last month and comes into
force on January 1.