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A Stiff Drug Policy In Sport

Posted: July 21, 2005, 6:24 pm
by Wulfran
Stiff drug-testing policy: minimum of two drug tests a year with no advance warning. A player will earn a 20-game suspension for a first-time offence, a 60-game ban for a second offence and a permanent suspension from the NHL after a third violation.
This quote was from TSN's site, from a recap articleabout the new NHL CBA. I was watching some coverage of the ratifications and this jumped out at me when they were discussing the highlights of the deal. Some other verbage I have heard is that this is about performance enhancing drugs, not narcotics, and all I could think was that its pretty strict compared to some of the other sports, specifically such as what baseball is trying to call a drug policy. I know in other threads, the merit of actual elimination of steroids etc has been somewhat debated (i.e. while it ensures more fair competition amongst professionals it may not have much/any impact on teenager usage).

Maybe its a ploy to try polish the sport's image and regain some legitimacy among fans but I have to admit I was impressed by their willingness to address the steroid issue. Its only one issue that the NHL has to face (and arguably a minor one to some people) but I was happy to see the manner in which they tackled it.

Posted: July 21, 2005, 7:30 pm
by XunilTlatoani
Actually, it's pretty much on par with baseball's drug policy. If you recall, MLB revamped its initial drug policy after the congressional hearings to 50 games for first offense, 100 games for the second and a lifetime ban for the third. Technically speaking, the first offense is more strict in baseball (about 30% of a season compared to about 25% in the NHL), but the second offense is more strict in hockey (about 75% compared to 60% of a season).

Ever since the feds started to get involved with this, I don't think it would even be possible to come up with a CBA nowadays that doesn't include a drug policy at least as stiff as MLB's. As Noel will probably tell you though, it's still nowhere near as tough as international sports :)

Posted: July 21, 2005, 8:16 pm
by Kelshara
That is FAR from strict. In most larger international sports you get a 2 year suspension on first offense. Lifetime for second.

Posted: July 22, 2005, 1:03 am
by Sylvus
Yeah, blah blah blah. We're in (the) America(s), Frenchie!