NO MARIJUANA FOR THE SNOWBOARDERS

IOC makes it clear this time: no marijuana for the snowboarders

Snowboarding quickly carved itself a spot in Olympic history during its
first run at the Nagano games in 1998. It wasn't the coming out party the
sport had hoped for. Wanting to be seen as a worthy Olympic addition,
snowboarders hoped to shed some of their bad-boy image as the outlaws of
the mountains. But that image was only enhanced after Canadian Ross
Rebagliati, the giant slalom gold medalist, was stripped of his award after
testing positive for marijuana.

Olympic traditionalists cried "I told you so," but many snowboarders felt
they were mislead. "[Olympic officials] didn't really tell anyone they were
testing for marijuana," says American snowboarder Ross Powers, the halfpipe
bronze medalist in Nagano. "It was all up in the air." Others questioned
the significance of the ruling; marijuana isn't exactly known for
increasing speed and agility.

Rebagliati claimed he did not smoke any pot, but admitted he was around it
during a going-away party. The Canadian Olympic Association appealed the
International Olympic Committee's decision and an arbitration panel was
formed. Three-days later, with the games still going on, the panel
overruled the IOC concluding that the IOC and the International Ski
Federation (FIS) were not explicit enough about marijuana's status as a
banned substance. Rebagliati, who had been keeping the award hidden in his
jacket pocket, pulled out the medal and hung it from his neck once again.
"I won the gold medal twice," Rebagliati proudly said at a news conference
after his medal was reinstated.

The IOC and the FIS are now on the same page. Everyone knows what will be
tested and what is prohibited. "The difference is that the federations have
all agreed that all of their prohibited substances are the same as in the
Olympic Anti-Doping code," says Dr. Doug Rollins, doping control medical
director of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. "There will be no more
discrepancies," says FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis. Marijuana is not a
performance enhancing drug, but it is listed as a prohibited substance in
the Anti-Doping code and also is an "expedient which is potentially harmful
to [an] athletes' health."

Under the new guidelines, an athlete will test positive for marijuana if
the concentration of carboxy-THC in their urine is greater than 15
nanograms per milliliter, standards based on ones used by the American
military that do take into account the possibility of passive inhalation,
says IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch. "You can't reach this amount
from secondhand smoking," he says. "I assure you of that."

Powers, who is a favorite to medal again next month in Salt Lake, isn't
taking any chances after seeing how close Rebagliati was to losing the
gold. "If someone was smoking in front of me," he says, "I'd definitely
step away from them." He doesn't smoke marijuana, but acknowledges that
occasional use of the drug is common in the sport. Many athletes simply
quit smoking before competitions. "To go to something like the Olympics,
and take a few months off from doing something like that, I'm sure is fine
with them," Powers says.

According to Rollins, athletes would have to lay off pot for weeks to
ensure a negative result, though he doesn't recommend taking a chance as
many of these tests are random and athletes have no idea when they may be
examined. "If you were to smoke one marijuana cigarette and have never
smoked one before, you could be positive for 24 to 48 hours," he says. "If
you were a regular user of marijuana, you could be positive for a week to
10 days, or even possibly two weeks."

The IOC expects to test the urine of at least 80 percent of the approximate
2,500 athletes before they arrive in Salt Lake City. For Powers, its no big
deal. "Whatever," he says. "After doing this a couple of times, you pretty
much know how it is. You fill out the paper work, go to the bathroom in
front of a guy. And then you're done." He says he's more concerned about
testing positive for common over-the-counter drugs than marijuana. "No one
does anything," he says. "You can't even take cold medicine. Everyone is
mellow on that right before the Olympics, because they do not want to fail
for anything stupid."