HOCKEY MDS SHAME LEAGUE INTO DRUG TESTING

Physicians Concerned About Quebec Players Who Use Ephedrine,
Amphetamines

VICTORIAVILLE, QUE. - Sometimes you can make a difference. Just ask
Dr. Jean-Luc Betit, team doctor of les Tigres de Victoria-ville and
head of the group of physicians that works with all 16 teams in the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The league has finally agreed to random drug testing of its players
after years of lobbying by Dr. Betit and others. But it took an
explosive story in a Montreal newspaper in early December to force the
issue.

The story quoted player agent Gilles Lupien, a former pro with the
Montreal Canadiens, who said about 60% of the players in the league
used drugs, particularly ephedrine, amphetamines, tranquillizers and
sleeping pills. Cited as a factor for the drug use was the fatigue
brought on by exhausting bus trips-some as long as from Val D'Or on
the northern Ontario border to Cape Breton in Nova Scotia-and too many
games per week.

"There isn't a doctor in this league who hasn't seen cases of
ephedrine use in recent seasons," Dr. Betit told a La Presse reporter.

"Several times this season, we have had major cases, with symptoms
like shaking, abdominal pain, serious muscle spasms, insomnia and stroke."

The story made headlines across Quebec, Canada and the United
States.

A top columnist with the Sporting News in the U.S., for example,
referred to the La Presse story to back up her argument that, in order
to prove its players are drug-free, the National Hockey League must
start mandatory drug testing.

"Want to dismiss a newspaper account? Go ahead," wrote Kara Yorio.
"But you can't dismiss the chairman of the league's committee of
doctors, Jean-Luc Betit, who says every doctor in the 16-team league
has dealt with ephedrine intoxication."

Initially, the league attacked the story, saying the scope of the
problem was exaggerated. That was supported by many hockey insiders,
including Dr. Betit, who estimated the percentage of players who use
drugs is probably 30%, not 60%.

Gravity of the situation

But the Victoriaville doctor held his ground publicly about the
gravity of the situation and the fact he and his colleagues have
complained to the league about the problem in the past.

The league's longtime president, Gilles Courteau, later announced the
Quebec league will begin random drug testing of its players at the
beginning of the 2004/05 season.

"That's what (the doctors) want-to see mandatory drug testing," Dr.
Betit said in a recent interview. "That's the only way."

Dr. Betit said he was overwhelmed by the response to the newspaper
story but happy with the result.

He recalled that a pilot project the league carried out for drug
testing between 1995 and 1998 was successful. However, despite getting
positive results in almost one-third of the dozen tests done each
year, the league later failed to put a testing program in place.

Dr. Betit blamed the problem on cost and resistance from some team and
league stakeholders.

"We're hoping to see change now that the league has said it is going
to bring in testing," he added.

He said he was also disappointed that health bodies in either the
federal or provincial governments have not been more involved in the
issue.

He said he hopes to see government intervention before "a player
collapses on the ice, the victim of a heart attack due to an overdose
of ephedrine."