TESTING OF ATHLETES FOR MARIJUANA

Sir, - I have been trying to understand the reasons for the International
Olympics Committee's decision to add marijuana to the list of prescribed
drugs for which Olympic athletes will be tested.

It cannot be because it is performance-enhancing, because it is not. On the
contrary, it is a recreational drug that is notorious for relaxing users
and inhibiting performance of any kind. If the IOC wants an all-inclusive
list of performance-enhancing drugs, it should have added tea and coffee to
its list, not to mention chocolate!

It cannot be simply because marijuana is illegal in some countries
(although not all), because that logic would oblige the IOC also to ban
both alcohol and female athletes. It cannot be to avoid offending the
domestic legislation of host countries, because it would not offend in all
such, and, besides, athletes are bound to obey the domestic legislation of
their host country, regardless of any IOC rule.

Clearly, this decision reflects a personal obsession on the part of some
IOC members, including, apparently, the president. This obsession is with
the completely separate question of the war on illegal recreational drugs.
It has nothing to do with the global campaign against performance-enhancing
drugs in sport.

The war on illegal drugs is contentious, not universal, and certainly does
not enjoy unqualified public support anywhere. It is a war which shows
every sign of being very expensively lost. The campaign against
performance-enhancing drugs in sport is global, universally approved and
opposed only by cheats.

By irrationally mixing the two campaigns, the IOC has delivered a severe
blow to what is left of the ideals of Pierre de Coubertin. As the war on
illegal drugs is lost, the public perception of the sporting drugs will now
be changed, and, eventually, that will be lost as well, to the great regret
of far more people than the short-sighted IOC.

Gerard Mulholland Avenue Franklin Roosevelt Chevilly-Larue, France