The British anti-doping agency says Olympic athletes who test positive for cocaine and ecstasy should not face an automatic ban from competing, The (London) Times reported Wednesday.
Professional sportsmen and women currently face a two-year ban if they are found to have the illegal substances in their system during competition.
But in a document seen by The Times, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) — the agency responsible for random testing of British athletes — says the sanctions are disproportionately harsh. Regulations on recreational drugs and medications, including asthma inhalers, should be relaxed in time for the London Games, the report says.
Drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine are judged by scientists to have no performance-enhancing effects in most sports. But former Olympians and anti-drug campaigners fear that relaxing the penalties for illegal drug use could send out the wrong message to young people and fans who look up to athletes as role models.
The British sprint gold medalist Mark Lewis-Francis was given a public warning after testing positive for cannabis, while American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals in Beijing, was suspended for three months by USA Swimming and admitted using "bad judgment" after being photographed using a bong.
As London starts its one-year countdown Wednesday to the opening ceremony of the Games, Michael Stow, the head of science and medicine at UKAD, said the careers of promising young athletes should no longer be blighted by using Class A drugs in "a social setting" that might have no impact on their sporting ability.
In a document sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency, UKAD recommends that penalties for the use of cocaine, ecstasy and the stimulant BZP should be downgraded and made more flexible. Those who test positive would no longer be given an automatic two-year ban, although sanctions could range from a written warning to a discretionary ban of up to two years.
"These stimulants should absolutely still be prohibited, but we'd like more flexibility in the sanction we give," Stow said.
His organization also recommends that all conventional asthma inhalers be permitted for athletes, provided they are used within manufacturers' guidelines. Currently, athletes have to provide exemption certificates for certain types of inhalers, despite a lack of evidence for any performance-enhancing effect in non-asthmatic athletes.
The world anti-doping delegates meet in Montreal next month and, if they vote in favor, the change would be adopted in time for the Olympics.
Mark Gay, head of sports group at the law firm DLA Piper, who successfully prosecuted Javier Sotomayor, the Cuban high jumper, for cocaine use during competition, said that it was "extraordinarily unprofessional" for an athlete to test positive for drugs.
"There's also an implicit sanction built in for athletes through the loss of public standing and reputation," he said, warning also of the potential loss of sponsorship deals or grants.
