Meldonium Amnesty

USA USA USA wrote:

Clerk wrote:

The other thread discussed at lengths whether there were actual performance enhancements from the drug. There was no performance data, no bod of evidence from studies on actual performance. There was a conceivable benefit from the mechanism, but theoretically possible isn't the same as actual.

Actual performance enhancement is not required. If it violates the spirit or sport--trying to cheat--, and is detrimental to the health of an athlete--you cannot hurt yourself if you want to--then it can be banned.

There is no data showing it is harmful. WADA says a substance or method must violate two of those criteria. Hard data showed it violated one, and while an understanding of the drug showed it theoretically could violate a second, there was no data. Really there was little discussion at all on this mechanism by WADA.

0.2c wrote:

WADA has apparently softened their rule concerning Meldonium. Effective immediately any test conducted before March 1st is allowed to have small traces on meldonium without failing a test. I think it's safe to assume they are implying that the detection period is around 2months?

Rising above the emotions and thinking smart, this is a logical step WADA had to take. USATF found itself in a somewhat similar situation back in 1988 when several athletes were busted for an amphetamine, which was contained in several OTC medicines at that time. The drug was only added to the banned list a few weeks prior. There was no internet at that time, the banned list was communicated via snail mail. The determination was that the PED use was inadvertent, since it was contained in regular drug store purchased cold and allergy medicines; the athletes were late in receiving the banned list; when they did receive the banned list they stopped taking the drug and trace amounts simply remained in their system. The athletes threatened to sue and in the end, they were got off with a warning. Like the WADA Meldonium situation, USATF did not have the science to determine when an athletes actually stopped taking the drug and the legal recourses to fight individual cases. Btw, Carl Lewis was one of the athletes caught up in this and interestingly, the drug was subsequently removed from the banned list.

WADA does not have the science, money, time and effort to deal with the potential legal ramifications of fighting all of the Meldonium cases. With that said, these Meldonium athletes were definitely cheating, there is nothing inadvertent about purposely taking a heart medication, when if you are diagnosed with a heart ailment, you probably should not be competing. All of those found with even the smallest trace amounts of Meldonium in their system prior to the ban should be given an official warning and athletes found with Meldonium in their system as late as March should be banned. I am not a scientist, but unless you are using the most sophisticated techniques, it is hard to detect something in urine if stopped taking it 60 days ago,

Silent Twitter Follower wrote:To be fair to the dopers!? These losers are taking drugs to enhance performance! The ONLY concern should be what is fair to the athletes not misusing prescription drugs. What is fair is an immediate ban once the intent of doping is found. The fact that they were even given 3 months notice is BS and not needed. You make it sound like these cheating scoundrels are some sort of victim in this situation.

It's not cheating if it's not against the rules. Meldonium falls in a category on WADA's Prohibited List than only bans specifically identified drugs. When Meldonium was not specifically identified on the list, it was not cheating to take Meldonium. It is not fair to punish people for something that is not against the rules and is therefore not cheating. It would be different if Meldonium fell in a prohibited CATEGORY of drugs (like anabolic agents) but those aren't the rules.

The bottom line is that fairness requires that people know what the rules are and have a chance to comply with them, as opposed to learning after the fact that they violated a rule that they didn't know about or have a chance to comply with.

Frustrated Observer wrote:

100's of runners who have been intentionally doping for years were notified months before the drug would trigger a positive test now get off the hook? What about the athletes that have lost prize money, team births, and contracts to these cheaters? This is exactly what's wrong with our sport. People intentionally dope with a drug off the radar and their given no penalty. They should have been banned before the drug was even put on the list because they were only taking it for a performance advantage.

What is wrong with WADA. They should have been able to ban these athletes before 2016 with the fact that the athletes, coaches, and doctors were all breaking the ethics of sport by taking it in.

Why are you frustrated? Every since it became clear to me that there were scores of positives, it was clear to me that the drug was staying in their system for a long time.

I was 100% certain they'd have to re-instated. This is 100% the right call.

Your post baffles me. People for years were taking a 100% legal drug. Just as NOP people take thyroid, these people were taking meldonium. You want them to be punished for taking something that was legal? Where do you draw the line? Gatorade, advil, altitude tents. You can bar someone for taking something that was legal.

Now, all of that being said, I might ban Sharapova. Someone remind me, but didn't she admit she took the drug in January, not knowing it was banned? Although that's going to be tough from a PR standpoint.

WADA can't produce any documents or clinical test that show it is a performance drug.

You don't have to have a prescription to consume Gatorade, Advil, to sleep in an altitude tent, or etc. It was not legal for these athletes to take Meldonium and the only intent for it's usage was to cheat. The drug should have never been in their systems in the first place and they should have been banned once it was discovered how it was being used. If you are taking thyroid medication to lose weight you should be banned if the intent is there. Any doctor, agent, or coach that has prescribed/given Meldonium to their athletes should be given a lifetime ban. They are taking a heart disease drug and given it to athletes to improve performance which breaks the fundamental principals of a clean sport. Athletes and their teams shouldn't be given the benefit of the doubt to get it out of their systems. These cheaters weren't giving athletes unwilling to illegally obtain a prescription drug the benefit of the doubt for a fair fight on the track.

That is where my frustration comes from. Cheating at this level is blatant and should be viewed with zero tolerance.

Sharapova should/will be the first to be re-instated. She is 50% of the WTA business model. Even though Nike has "dropped" her. Her instagram account she is still promoting all the new Spring 2016 nike tennis gear.

Apparently you do not have to have a prescription to buy Meldonium in Russia and perhaps in other countries. Punishing athletes based on whether a prescription is required is not workable because different countries have different laws on which drugs require prescriptions. For instance, in the US people take ibuprofen ("Vitamin I") before races all the time with the intent that it be performance enhancing. It's an over the counter drug just like Meldonium in Russia.

In the same way, banning anything taken with the "intent" to be performance enhancing is not a workable rule. People take sodium bicarbonate, caffeine pills, etc. all with the intent that they be performance enhancing. Gu gels have amino acids that are supposedly performance enhancing. Yet none of these things result in athletes being punished. If you are going to punish people for these things, you need to tell them what the rules are in advance.

Like I said before, punishing people because you decide that something "breaks the fundamental principals of a clean sport" when you have not specifically told people what specific conduct you are prohibiting is unfair. To be fair people need to know in advance what the rules are and whether they are violating the rules.

Intent to enhance performance is not illegal, nor should it ever be. If you want to say "intent to cheat", then those meldonium athletes did not intend to cheat because they were taking a legal drug. If you have issue with the fraudulent prescription, then you need to understand the medical laws governing prescriptions in these countries, and the circumstances of each athletes prescription, which you don't.

B-Sample wrote:

What we can only speculate about NOP we now KNOW about Russia, i.e bribes, secret drugs, systemic drug distribution, etc.. Alberto *may* be doing such things, but several years have not uncovered anything that can be prosecuted, in contrast to the Russians, who if anything have been getting all kinds of hall passes from WADA and IAAF. USADA has actually demonstrated some decent degree of effectiveness (busting Armstrong, Gatlin, Gay etc) whereas RUSADA has been a complete joke all along.

Off the Radar wrote:

What???? If something is completely off the radar in the USA, and it manages to stay off the radar--payoffs, NOP secret labs, etc.--then how would you know that the USA is not far far ahead of the Russians???

Unfortunately British anti doping is a joke. Mo Farah? And don't get me started on Radcliffe.

We have analyzed today's developments here:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/04/meldonium-amnesty-wada-issues-notice-many-172-athletes-whove-tested-positive-meldonium-may-get-off-maria-sharpova-may-not-one-lucky-ones/

Abebe Aregawi could be back as a factor.

I am for giving the athletes a pass on testing positive for this drug so long as they can provide reasonable proof that they were taking for drug for its intended use: heart failure.

We will have to agree to disagree. Obviously the folks trying to run a "clean" sport side with many of you and view these athletes as victims. I personally view these athletes as cheaters and the personnel providing it to them as the scum of the sport.

My solution? If an athlete expects to receive prize money, compete for their country, or other qualifying metric they should send any and everything they take to WADA. The exception would be if what they are taking is already on an approved list that is already in place. Testing positive for a drug that wasn't submitted and not already on an approved list would result in an immediate ban. Scenario's like this can't be allowed where athletes take substances for years for performance enhancement and then plead innocence because they were taking a "legal" drug. Want to take a "legal" drug that hasn't been banned nor approved? Go for it, just send WADA a sample of it first.Test positive for a substance without WADA being notified shows the intent to hide the drug which is the same as cheating.

Implementation? WADA can provide free postage envelopes to all governing bodies globally. Provide 6-12 months of tutorials to athletes, coaches, and agents to remove ignorance as an excuse. Make the ban applicable to whoever also provided it to the athlete as well.

I don't agree to disagree, because the issue isn't disagreement on a cheating-or-not-cheating, but that you're not being practical in your solution. You still say "test" like they put some urine in a CSI anaylsis machine and it pops out every substance in their body. You say send everything to WADA, but they don't do any results management. You say test everyone winning prize money, what about the other athletes in the field? What about the athletes from every other sport? Labs simply don't have the capacity, to manage that load, and its not realistic to expect them to any time soon.

The point of my solution isn't to test for everything known to man in every test. It's that a standard can easily be set by WADA on what athletes must be part of this testing group. I'd say somewhere in the realm of top 15-25 in your country or a global ranking of top 100 in their event whichever is applicable to the athlete. Once the athlete's in the protocol they must turn over all supplements and medications that they're taking if it's not already on an approved list or they have a TUE for it. Then if WADA gets a tip that athletes are taking a certain drug and create a test for it and say a 100+ athletes test positive for that substance they can't plead ignorance. It would also cut down on people experimenting with new drugs and maybe have them reconsider what they're taking if they have to notify WADA of it's usage. It's not a perfect set up, but it may expose current cheaters and prevent others from experimenting with the misuse of drugs and supplements not yet researched by WADA.

As a legal matter, it is probably the right call, but that does not make it right. I can see doing a PED inadvertently, a TUE or something that you know is a PED, but it's natural and legal and when it becomes illegal you immediately get off. There is no way you can allow these athletes to take a synthetic, prescription drug that has aided their performances and allow them to walk away scot free.

This site continually protests the fake therapeutic use exemptions for thyroid hormone, and rightly so. These athletes were seeking a medical advantage for a performance enhancing drug used by the Soviet Army for precisely that purpose. They were cheating and now WADA is going to let them get away with it. The system is completely set up to allow cheating and appear to be doing something about it. There was no medical use for 99.99% of those athletes here. And they had a year's notice this was being studied and three months to stop once it was banned--how many did? There's only one way to begin to clean up the sport--ban all pharmaceuticals outside certain classes. If your health is so bad you need others, then you have to both prove it and stop competing until it is entirely out of the system.

Too many people are focusing on the cheaters not being sanctioned. Fine, whatever. But the "should" situation is very different from the "is" situation. Everyone knows what should be done, but what can be done is very different.

The issue is the way WADA undermined its own credibility through this process. By moving meldonium from the monitored to banned list without enough scientific research (in its performance enhancement, its potential harm, or possible glow time), they've undermined their efforts to clean up the sport. Leaving small holes allows for these holes to be exploited in later court cases with this, or with other new additions to the banned list.

Dopers are already able to exploit holes like inadvertent use/tainted supplements, back dating TUEs, and altitude/dehydration/sickness with regards to ABP.

WADA just opened up another hole for their future. Imagine if activogen gets banned, or Tramadol. WADA showing a history of banning substances without thorough investigation opens up athletes caught taking these for "I stopped but it didn't clear yet" or "I stopped but I'm a shotputter with way more bodyfat, and WADA doesn't know how that changes clearance times." Or even "Yeah I took it medically but WADA can't show its performance enhancing"

Those are extreme examples, but my point remains.

Sanders23 wrote:

Sharapova should/will be the first to be re-instated. She is 50% of the WTA business model. Even though Nike has "dropped" her. Her instagram account she is still promoting all the new Spring 2016 nike tennis gear.

Sales of meldonium (mildronate) have soared in Russia since the story came out. This bad PR story was just not going to go away for the various authorities. Now the bad PR story is going to go away.

Ads on the internet that sell the unproven and sometimes OTC drug meldonium actually use the phrase "as used by Maria Sharapova" in the ad!