12/21/24
January 31, 2006
It takes a dope to know one?: Perhaps it's time for Toronto Sun columnist Al Strachan to be drug-tested. A column by sportsfilter member wfrazerjr.
Is codeine a banned substance? Because that's what's in most serious cough medication. (The kind that helps you sleep, anyway.) Some of that action might let Jagr and his roommate sleep.
posted by fabulon7 at 07:24 AM on February 01, 2006
The onus needn't be just on Jagr. The NHL teams and the Olympic teams have team doctors under contract, presumably it should also be their responsibility to know not only what is-and-isn't permissible under the league or IOC drug policy, but they should also know what can-or-can't be prescribed to their athletes. Jagr can hardly be the first athlete that ever got a cold. Maybe he should be prescribed sleep & water, neither are illegal, and usually the best remedy.
posted by the red terror at 11:10 AM on February 01, 2006
fabulon, codeine is not banned, although some narcotics are prohibited in competition. The bigger problem with cold medications is the non drowsy ones, because they all contain stimulants. However, the most common culprit is pseudoephedrine -- that's the one that got Laumann -- and that is no longer on the WADA prohibited list. So Jagr and his doctors have lots of good options, if they just would get a little bit educated. I should note that the list above applies to the Olympics, but not to the NHL.
posted by Amateur at 12:00 PM on February 01, 2006
I have to admit, the only reason I put this up was because the Toronto Sun chose to use it yesterday as its "Letter of the Day" in the sports section. Oddly enough, it doesn't appear online.
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:29 PM on February 01, 2006
gotta understand somewhat that Canadians can be a little squirrely about performance enhancing drugs. Pound sounds over the top in his accusations. Strachan sounds over the top in his counter argument. And besides Ben Johnson and his obvious situation, there was rowing star Silken Laumann getting into some big trouble for taking cold medication, innocently. Yeah, sounds like you gotta put the onus on Jagr and the trainers to seek out a solution. Strachan is probably of their same mindset though, plus a bit defensive about Pound's sweeping accusation that the NHL is filthy.