PARALYMPIC SKIER SUSPENDED FOR MARIJUANA USE

Edmonton's Kimberly Joines has no intention of staying on the
sidelines after she's done serving a nine-month suspension for
testing positive for marijuana use.

The International Paralympic Committee, which oversees the alpine
World Cup circuit for para-alpine athletes, issued the ban Thursday,
May 10, following Joines's positive test at an IPC Alpine Skiing
World Cup race in Aspen on Jan. 17. Nine months is the maximum
penalty for a first-time offence, which Joines says stemmed from a
misunderstanding.

Joines had applied to Health Canada to be allowed to use medicinal
marijuana, which she says she used as a painkiller because it had
fewer negative effects than prescription medications. At the time she
applied to Health Canada she was told that the Canadian Centre for
Ethics in Sports would allow the use of medicinal marijuana, not
realizing that the IPC Anti-Doping Code, which uses the same list as
the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) -- has no similar exemption.

Joines suffered a spine injury while snowboarding in 2000, and as a
paraplegic lost no time getting back on the slopes despite some
ongoing pain and discomfort. As a member of the national team, she
has also suffered several crashes in training and competition, and
was seriously injured when she fell off a chairlift in her sitski in
2005, cracking ribs and damaging her shoulder. She also broke her
femur in training that year.

While Joines plans to be back in October -- her nine-month suspension
goes back to her initial positive test in January -- the incident
caused some difficulty for the 26 year old. For one thing, she lost
her Sport Canada funding of $1,500 a month that she relied on. She
will need to re-qualify next year on the World Cup circuit to have
that funding reinstated.

That should be relatively easy for Joines, who won the sit-ski
category in her first race last season by about four seconds.
However, she has not yet received word as to whether she will be
allowed to train with the team while serving her suspension.

Alpine Canada has been relatively quiet about the incident. According
to spokesperson Kyle Marr, no other athletes have tested positive or
are being investigated for marijuana use. The official word on the
incident is "no comment," although Marr referred reporters to the
statements that Alpine Canada president Ken Read made to the national
media last week -- namely that Joines was also sanctioned by Alpine
Canada, but would be welcomed back to the team once her suspension was over.