Drugs In Sport - Are you Legal?

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Do you know if the drugs you take are allowable or restricted in a sporting context?

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has an interactive tool which enables a player to check the status of medications and other substances which s/he may consume. There is a sports specific ‘croquet’ category.

The list changes annually, so croquet athletes, you can re-check the status of your medications at any time by referring to the Check Your Substances tool on the ASADA website.

The World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List 2012 has been released. The Check Your Substances tool will be updated to reflect the 2012 changes on 23 December 2011. The major change to the 2012 List which will affect Australian athletes and support personnel is to inhaled  formoterol. This is a bronchodilator which causes the widening of vessels by relaxing the smooth muscles surrounding them.

Also in its announcement of the 2012 List, WADA advised that, “The List prohibits the administration of all beta-2 agonists except salbutamol (maximum 1600 micrograms over 24 hours), salmeterol when taken by inhalation, and now formoterol (maximum 36 micrograms taken over 24 hours).”  NB beta-2 agonists are used in the treatment of night time asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The use of inhalers for these substances is allowed but with specific approval, however, injected or ingested (tablets) beta-2 is prohibited.

Other matters to note!
WADA also has a monitoring program that focuses on substances which are not on the Prohibited List, but which it wishes to monitor in order to detect patterns of misuse in sport. WADA has confirmed that in 2012 it will be monitoring the effects nicotine can have on performance when taken in oral tobacco products such as snus. WADA stressed that it was not the Agency’s intention to target smokers.

Further information about the new Prohibited List and many other drugs in sport related matters can be found on the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority website and WADA website.

(This article extracts most information without change from a WADA  press release, and the ASADA website.)

Nerida Taylor
Executive Director
11 October 2011