ABC Moves to Standardize Lists of Prohibited Drugs Among States and Tribes

Below is the statement passed at the recent conference of the Association of Boxing Commissions, whose members govern professional combat sports in North America, regarding prevention of doping. While they unanimously approved using the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List of banned substances, they passed nothing regarding actual enforcement. Many of these commissions do little or even no drug testing, and none follow the anti-doping measures of the World Anti-Doping Agency, such as random and unannounced blood and urine tests. Some, such as the commissions in Nevada and California, even grant numerous therapeutic use exemptions for testosterone, which is itself an anabolic steroid, in greater numbers than are granted even by the International Olympic Committee and WADA. So while this statement calls this "an important step in the prevention of abuse of performance enhancing drugs," the absence of any state-of-the-art enforcement mechanism makes it almost meaningless.

Here is the statement:

The Association of Boxing Commission ("ABC") at its recent conference in Clearwater, Florida, took an important step in the prevention of abuse of performance enhancing drugs ("PED's") in combat sports. The ABC unanimously voted to adopt the World Anti-Doping ("WADA") Prohibited List.

This marks a major step, and accomplishes several things.

1) It standardizes substances which are prohibited among the different jurisdictions.

2) It simplifies the ability to check whether substances are prohibited since WADA keeps a comprehensive list on line at http://www.wada-ama.org/Documents/World_Anti-Doping_Program/WADP-Prohibited-list/2012/WADA_Prohibited_List_2012_EN.pdf (or simply put "WADA Prohibited List" in your search engine).

3) It makes it possible for Fighters to, in many cases, determine whether specific drugs contain prohibited substances since WADA and associated groups have an interactive website where the name of a drug can be entered and the website will inform the viewer whether the drug is prohibited. See http://www.globaldro.com/ and follow the prompts or just put "globaldro" into a search engine. For instance, if one enters "ibuprofen" one will find it is not prohibited. If one enters "testosterone", the substance shows up as clearly prohibited.

4) The list is maintained in English and Spanish and can be accessed by iphones and mobile devices.

There are rare instances where a fighter may be legitimately prescribed what would otherwise be a prohibited drug, such as typical medications used by asthmatics. In such instances athletes must disclose the use prior to competition, prior to any testing, and must apply for a therapeutic use exemption. For a therapeutic use exemption application a fighter should contact the athletic commission of his/her home jurisdiction and any jurisdiction where they have a bout scheduled. Disclosure and a therapeutic use exemption is crucial; otherwise using a prescribed drug on the prohibited list or containing substances on the prohibited list will be grounds for discipline.

Fighters should also take great care as to any supplements they may take, as they are accountable for taking such supplements as well if a drug test turns up positive for a PED due to a substance in a supplement.