There was a stupor when the authorities of the European federations in charge of fighting sports doping read the word “cocaine” among the substances to which the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will reduce the penalties considerably as of January 1, 2021 In your new code, the highest international body to ensure “cleanliness” in sport has created a category for “substances that are frequently abused in society in contexts other than sports”. As is customary, WADA initiates two separate documents. One with the regulations and one with the name of the prohibited substances. In permanent contact with the member countries during the drafting of the code, the agency had included in the first text the new classification of «substances of abuse» whose consumption, Despite being prohibited during the competition, it will have less penalty, with a maximum suspension of three months, compared to the two years of the current regulation. That is, eight times less, provided that the athlete does not have the “intention” to cheat and is used in “a context unrelated to sporting activity.” The sentence may even last a single month if the offender “satisfactorily follows a program against substance abuse”.
Once the rule was known, among the authorities of the national federations there was expectation to know which drugs or drugs would enjoy such permissiveness. But the preparation of the list of prohibited substances is airtight. From that dynamic inventory of taboos, in permanent review, elements such as caffeine and alcohol, both decriminalized, have already fallen into previous modifications. To give an idea of the importance of this catalog, any entry or exit of a drug can cause the medical treatments that an athlete undergoes to vary.
When the new list was finally unveiled, there were four “substances of abuse”. Cocaine, cannabis, heroin, and ecstasy. “We have seen with a little surprise that there is cocaine,” confirms José Luis Terreros, director of the Spanish Agency for the Protection of Health in Sports (AEPSAD), an organization that depends on the Higher Sports Council. “More than not agreeing, we view it with concern. Cocaine as a substance of abuse with reduced sanction is in question. But, cSince this is the first year that this definition exists, we have to see what happens. There is no opposing opinion nor is there a confrontation ».
Cocaine, a drug that figures like number one in women’s tennis Martina Hingis, soccer star Diego Armando Maradona or jumping champion Javier SotomayorUntil now, it was considered a “prohibited stimulant substance”. In the aforementioned cases, when the alkaloid was found in their urine samples during an anti-doping control, these idols were removed from the competition for between twelve months and two years. Cocaine, warns Joaquín Lucena, forensic expert, it disappears from the body in twelve hours, but after the second hour it could begin to go unnoticed.
The controversy with cocaine, compared to the other three drugs now tolerated in the sports world, is in its stimulating quality. “Cocaine is a very powerful stimulant of the central nervous system that causes disinhibition, a decrease in the feeling of fatigue and an increase in aggressiveness, among other effects, which allows maintaining a high intensity of effort”, describes Pedro Manonelles, president of the Spanish Society Sports Medicine (SEMED). “This decision is a huge setback in the ideals of sport, represented by the Olympic movement of fair play, health, honesty and cleanliness. The World Anti-Doping Agency makes controversial decisions and this is one of them, which is in contradiction with its own rules. According to the WADA, a substance is prohibited if it improves athletic performance, represents a real or potential risk to the athlete’s health, or violates sportsmanship.
“Between the current code and the next there are no major changes, but there is a new classification that has remodeled some of the behaviors that constitute doping,” says Alberto Palomar, an expert in sports law and professor at the Carlos III University of Madrid. «The code evolves and makes certain behaviors lose gravity, while it becomes tougher in competition. Everything is getting worse, except that part of the substances for social use, which has gone down. But it is not a question of what seems good or bad socially, but of evaluating its consumption according to the improvement of physical capacity.
Spanish position
The WADA code, and its link to the list of prohibited substances, has been fully included in Spain in the preliminary draft of the Organic Law on the Fight against Doping in Sport, which could begin to be discussed in Parliament before it ends year. In the section on “substances of abuse” there is no change with respect to the international indication, as imposed by the WADA, which eliminates any room for modification or interpretation in most of its guidelines.
But in the case of the ‘white lady’ or ‘snow’ there was a loophole for each country to toughen punishable or preventive measures to avoid its consumption. “An international federation could decide, for reputational or health reasons, to establish a standard of conduct that prohibits an athlete from using or possessing cocaine out of competition,” admits WADA in fine print. However, he continues, no federation can impose sanctions other than its own, even though it has the right to control compliance with its internal regulations in international events.
The Spanish position has been to transfer the regulations to its law without substantial modifications, beyond some euphemisms, such as «Increase in proportionality» to talk about the reduction of penalties for the user of cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy or heroin. “It would be grossly unfair if there were different penalties for the same reasons,” says Manonelles. “The Government has to approve the norms and apply the sanctions established in the code as part of the logical harmonization that must exist worldwide.”
Since 2021, therefore, hThere will be more tolerance for these drugs, and the anti-doping agencies of each country will have to assess whether they raise an opinion contrary to the recent WADA decision, which starts a bureaucratic process full of steps. Now, if the Spanish authorities detect that this change in criteria unchecks sporting behavior and leads to levels of risk, would it require the WADA to tighten the rules again? “The word demand does not fit here,” says Terreros. «What those people decide goes to mass. Once they determine which substances are in which category, it only remains to accept and publish it. It is the only standard that is completely closed and it is impossible to make any changes.
During the allegations and comments period this year, however, there was a request that affected the final list of prohibited substances and extended the authorization to administer corticosteroids by infiltration by one year. “There was a negotiation because we were going to find a lot of unfair positives”.
After two years of review, three phases of consultation and more than 2,000 comments received, the code, designed to “protect the rights of clean athletes around the world”, was unanimously approved. But permissiveness with cocaine is a stain in a new protocol that toughens the punishment for necessary doping collaborators, with “much more serious penalties for those who administer or traffic doping substances with minors and people with disabilities, and provides greater protection to doping who give information and to the agents who carry out the controls, ”explains Terreros. “The new code is fairer, but with cocaine it relaxes.” In sports bullies, the term “substances of abuse” has already been renamed “substances for social use.”
When he played for Napoli in the Italian league in 1991, the footballer was suspended for 15 months for cocaine use. Three years later, at the World Cup in the United States, he tested positive again in a test carried out after Argentina’s game against Nigeria. This time the substances were stimulants like ephedrine. With another 15 months of sanction, that doping marked his sporting end. «I was 24 years old when I first used. The drug is the biggest problem, the drug kills.
He tested positive for cannabis in an anti-doping test in 2000, after a fight with Andrew Golota and was sentenced to pay a fine of 200,000 euros. Four years later he lost a match against Larry Sloman and claimed afterwards that he had taken drugs before stepping into the ring. “I was a full-fledged cocaine addict, I even used it before a fight,” Tyson maintained in ‘The Whole Truth’, his autobiography.
He had won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada, by jumping 2.30 meters in height in 1999. After the test, he tested positive for cocaine, with high levels in the body. The initial penalty was two years without competing, but it was cut in half. The athlete maintained his innocence.
It happened at Wimbledon in 2007. Martina Hingis tested positive for cocaine in a routine check and was suspended from competition for two years. The player denied that she used drugs and maintained her innocence. When the results of the test were known, she announced her retirement and had to return some 100,000 euros in prizes. «I did not dope, I am innocent. I have a panic about drug use. That I am suspicious is terrible and I have decided to leave »
He was playing in the First Division for Granada when he tested positive for cocaine in early 2014. He received a two-year ban and the club terminated his contract. After serving his sentence, he returned to professional football and wore several shirts without regaining his best level. Now he is a midfielder in Third. «I was at home with some friends. He had drunk so he couldn’t train. I used cocaine because I wanted to train. I held out as best I could and trained ».
After the fourth stage of the 2015 Tour de France, Luca Paolini tested positive for cocaine. Team Katusha suspended him from salary and received an 18-month ban without competing. The cyclist did not deny that he consumed the alkaloid but said it was to remedy another previous addiction to a relaxant, benzodiazepine.
Cannabis, cycling and sudden death
With the invention of “substances of abuse”, the world of sports breaks the bubble that protected the human body to perform feats. The imposition of exemplary sanctions to anyone who had any temptation to look for shortcuts, guaranteed the health necessary to break records.
The athlete had to set an example inside and outside the stadium. But with the new world legislation, the difference between personal life and sporting life is recognized, by separating in the anti-doping code drugs that improve body performance from recreational drugs. “The difference is substantive because a legal product is used in doping, while in social drugs it is an illegal product,” says Alberto Palomar, professor of Law at the Carlos III University of Madrid. The new criteria of the AMA is similar to that followed by the Civil Guard, whose research in sports, to detect the use of anabolics and hormones, does not include drugs, explains a source from that institution.
Even in private practice, cannabis and cocaine can also cause life-threatening situations. In the largest study on sudden death in sport, it was found that cannabis had been used in 7% of cases and, to a lesser extent, cocaine, probable ‘precipitating factors for fatal arrhythmia’. “It surprises me that substances that are so cardiotoxic are allowed in sport,” says Joaquín Lucena, head of the Seville Forensic Pathology Service and co-author of the study. “I am not going into sports, but these substances for social use are dangerous and you should know.” Most of those who died of cardiorespiratory arrest practiced cycling.
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