frankly speaking - Drug Free Sport

Second quarter, 2007
on the road again
Will we be in your area?
Contact us to schedule an
educational session.
American College Health Association
(ACHA) Annual Meeting
San Antonio
May 29-June 2
National Coaching Educators’ Conference
Indianapolis
June 7-9
Doping Issues in Human Performance
Anaheim, Calif.
June 30
National Athletic Trainers’ Association
(NATA) Annual Meeting
Anaheim, Calif.
June 26-30
Drug Free Sport™ Believes
•Testing is a necessary and effective
drug-use prevention tool to develop athletes
who are committed to success on and off the
field.
•Athletics participation is a privilege, and
athletes cannot be allowed to abuse drugs at
their expense, the expense of their teammates
or at the expense of their sport.
•Research shows that most athletes are
drug free. Therefore, we will at all times treat
athletes with dignity and respect, and above
all else, protect their privacy.
•Strong relationships with certified, ethical
sports drug-testing laboratories and collectors
benefit our clients’ drug-testing programs.
•Sports organizations differ in their
philosophies on how to deter drug use. We
support an organization’s right to conduct its
programs according to its principles and
objectives.
•Not every sports organization shares our
values, and we will not compromise what we
believe in the name of increasing the bottom
line.
The National Center for
Drug Free Sport®
2537 Madison Ave.
Kansas City, Mo. 64108
816/474-8655
FRANKLY SPEAKING
BY FRANK URYAsZ, PREsIDENT, DRUG FREE SPORT™
A month of messages, from retirements to reorganization
I have a lot of messages on my mind, so if Frankly Speaking lacks its usual
cohesiveness this quarter, please forgive me. I would rather cover a number of topics in
my limited column space than create inane segues to make it all tidy.
• Terry Madden, the executive director of the U.S. Anti-Doping
Agency, announced he will be leaving USADA later this year. Terry has
done an exemplary job creating USADA from the ground up and restoring the world’s faith in the Unites States’ commitment to clean Olympic
sports. He will be missed.
• Don Catlin retired as the laboratory director at the UCLA Olympic
Analytical Laboratory to devote full time to his Anti-Doping Research
(ADR) Institute in Los Angeles. Dr. Catlin is renowned in the sports drugabuse prevention field, and we are fortunate that he will be developing
new techniques to detect banned substances and methods.
• Ron Stratten recently retired as the Vice President for Education Services at the
NCAA. Ron oversaw the NCAA health and safety programs, including the Association’s
drug-testing programs. We wish Ron well in his retirement.
• I have no plans to retire.
• The UCLA School of Medicine remains committed to the anti-doping arena and is
continuing the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, which has a long relationship with
Drug Free Sport.
• Staff reorganization at Drug Free Sport in March positions us to better serve our
expanded list of clients. Congratulations to Chris Guinty, JD, and Andrea Wickerham,
JD, who have been named vice presidents as part of the new structure.
• For high schools and colleges, spring and early summer are the best times to
review drug-testing policies and make changes for the 2007-08 year. Current clients
of Drug Free Sport should contact Chris Nordby at cnordby@drugfreesport.com about
policy review. High schools, colleges and other sports organizations not currently
working with Drug Free Sport may contact Daniel Regan at dregan@drugfreesport.com.
• Our sister company, Sports Association Management, Inc. (SAMI), recently
launched a new online (and free!) directory of college athletics personnel. They call it
SAMI Pages. It makes printed directories obsolete. You can find SAMI Pages at www.
samisports.com. Need a name, address or phone number while you are on the road?
SAMI Pages works especially well from your PDA.
• A record number of Drug Free Sport staff members will be on hand at the 2007
NATA Annual Meeting and Trade Show in Anaheim, Calif., June 26–30. Please visit all of
us at Booth 533. Drug Free Sport has three certified athletic trainers on our staff. They
will come in handy after we’ve been standing at the trade show for three days!
• Maybe it’s me, but does anyone else think it’s contradictory for sports organizations to have sponsorships and company signage at their events for products that
contain banned and/or impermissible substances? I know sponsoring athletics events
takes money, but this practice crosses the line.
• Finally, I recently made a presentation to a potential sports client and identified
some principles that we follow at Drug Free Sport. I thought I would reiterate them in
Insight under the title “Drug Free Sport Believes.” See them on the sidebar at left.
NEWs
Drug Free Sport reorganizes staff to enhance client services,
accommodate growth and increase efficiency
Drug Free Sport President Frank Uryasz
has announced a staff reorganization and
accompanying new positions. Uryasz has elevated two staff members to vice president,
rearranged responsibilities of continuing
staff members and created several new
positions.
“I decided to reorganize to improve our
structure in several areas,” Uryasz said.
“The new structure will have fewer direct
reports to me, but it remains as flexible
as possible. It also shows our renewed
commitment to customer service as we’re
separating customer service from sales and
marketing.”
Andrea Wickerham,
previously Drug Free
Sport director of legal
relations and policy,
is now vice president.
Wickerham will continue
to oversee the NCAA
programs, risk management, program reviews
and legal affairs for Drug Free Sport. In her
new position, Wickerham now has oversight of drug-testing operations, collector
development, speaking engagements and
information technology. She also oversees
human resources, staff development and
employment policies, as well as laboratory
contracts.
Chris Guinty, previously director of
professional sports testing and legal relations associate, is now
vice president. Guinty will
continue to oversee the
professional sports testing
programs. In addition, he
now oversees sales and
marketing, including the
cultivation of new clients.
Guinty also now oversees
the Resource Exchange Center (REC), which
will undergo changes designed to provide
growth opportunities.
Several staff members have new positions
or new titles as a result
of the reorganization.
J.D. Matheus (right) was
promoted to director of
professional baseball testing. Eric Patterson (below
right) was promoted to
director of the REC (see
the accompanying article
on page 6 about the
REC). Chris Nordby is now
director of drug-testing
operations. He will manage the customer-service
team that works with
all drug-testing clients
except professional
Drug Free Sport Staff Extensions, June 2007
DFS Main # 816/474-8655
Robin Burton, ext. 122
Michelle Dorsey, ext. 116
Chris Guinty, ext. 121
Kay Hawes (media), ext. 125
Daniel Linhart, ext. 108
Sylvette Lopez-Ruth, ext. 110
J.D. Matheus, ext. 114
Nick Matheus, ext. 115
Matt McDougall, ext. 127
Chris Nordby, ext. 126
Rachel Olander, ext. 117
Eric Patterson, ext. 129
Daniel Regan, ext. 123
Michaela Stemmons, ext. 113
Sherry Thalmann, ext. 120
Cindy Thomas, ext. 112
Ann Uryasz, ext. 124
Frank Uryasz, ext. 111
Andrea Wickerham, ext. 118
sports and the NCAA. Cindy Thomas is now
director of education and training. She will
continue to manage collector recruitment,
training and evaluation.
Rachel Olander (right),
previously resource
specialist with the REC, is
now manager of SCAN®
(Secure Collection Automated Network) and
information technology.
She will provide technical
support to Drug Free Sport collectors and
staff.
The reorganization also has resulted
in a number of new positions. Daniel
Regan (right) has joined
Drug Free Sport as the
new director of sales
and marketing. Regan
was previously with the
Kansas City Sports Commission. Daniel Linhart,
previously the administrative services coordinator
at Drug Free Sport, has been named NCAA
assistant program manager, a new position
with the company.
Drug Free Sport will continue to contract
with its sister company, Sports Association
Management Inc. (SAMI) to provide media
relations and publications services. SAMI’s
Kay Hawes (right), will
continue to serve as Drug
Free Sport’s director of
media relations. Hawes
also will continue to
direct Drug Free Sport’s
publication of Insight, this
quarterly newsletter.
Many of the familiar voices Drug Free
Sport’s clients hear on a regular basis
remain the same. Michelle Dorsey remains
manager of the NCAA programs, and Sherry
Thalmann remains assistant manager of
NCAA programs. Robin Burton and
Michaela Stemmons remain account
managers working with many of Drug Free
Sport’s institutional clients.
For a full listing of all Drug Free Sport
staff and their phone extensions, see the
extension chart at left.
Investigation of steroid-distribution ring leads to
arrests of doctors and pharmacists in several states
In May, investigators searched a
pharmacy in Brooklyn, N.Y., as part of an
ongoing criminal investigation that has
stretched from New York to Florida and Texas. Investigators said they seized Chinesemade steroids and human-growth hormone
from Lowens Drug Store, a compounding
pharmacy in New York, as part of an investigation of an Orlando-based company,
Signature Compounding Pharmacy, which
was raided in February.
The February raids, led by Albany County New York District Attorney David Soares,
were the culmination of a multi-year investigation into a complex web of pharmacies,
Web sites and doctors, according to court
records. Twenty-one people have been
indicted, and seven have pleaded guilty to
various charges. In New York, as in many
other states, it is illegal for doctors to prescribe drugs without seeing patients.
“This is a case about unfettered access
to controlled substances,” Soares told The
New York Daily News. “We’re trying to stop
a clear and present danger to people who
want these substances.”
Mark Haskins, senior investigator for
the New York State Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement, told The New York Daily
News that investigators found a technician,
not a licensed pharmacist, compounding
steroids at Lowens, along with an operation that seemed to be filling orders at a
rapid rate.
“He opens a door, and there’s this room
with no windows about 10-by-18 with this
woman in a surgical gown and mask mixing something in a bowl. Like the size of
bowl you’d make cookies in,” Haskins told
the newspaper.
Haskins went on to tell reporters that
the technician was mixing stanozolol, a
popular anabolic steroid. Haskins and
three other agents are said to have seized
an estimated $200,000 worth of steroids
and growth hormone. The New York Daily
News also reported that a fax machine in
the room continued to hum with orders for
steroids and growth hormone, receiving
more than 100 orders in the four hours the
investigators were there.
It’s just the latest in what has been an
unfolding story of prescriptions written by
doctors who never see the patients and
filled by pharmacies who ship the drugs
to customers all over the country. Arrests
were made at Signature Pharmacy in
Orlando, Fla., at the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, also in Florida, and even at
Cellular Nucleonic in Sugar Land, Texas.
The owners of MedXLife, a Florida business
said to have prospected for customers on
the Internet, have agreed to testify against
others in the multi-state operation.
According to Haskins, the investigation
at Palm Beach Rejuvenation in February
exposed an operation that led customers
from a Web site to the phones of “counselors,” well-paid young salesmen with no
college degrees who read from scripts and
told clients what drugs would work best for
them. The counselors then sent prescriptions for steroids and growth hormones to
doctors who signed them and forwarded
them to pharmacies that filled the orders.
“You’re 23 years old and you don’t even
have a college education and you’re telling
someone what drugs are best for you and
you’re making $200,000 a year? And you
don’t think there’s something wrong with
that?” Haskins asked.
Drug Free Sport President Frank Uryasz
is not surprised by the scope of the operations. He points to the ongoing investigation, which so far has focused exclusively
on doctors, pharmacists and distributors,
as a warning to athletes.
“We’ve known for a long time that you
can buy this stuff off of the Internet, but
it’s not safe, it’s not legal and it’s not
anonymous,” Uryasz said. “We have data
from the NCAA study that indicate that student-athletes are obtaining drugs over the
Internet. We would encourage athletes to
avoid the embarrassment and the potential for legal prosecution associated with
such operations.”
Uryasz is hopeful that this investigation,
and others like it, will curb the number of
performance-enhancing drugs available
over the Internet.
“We have asked law enforcement for
help on the supply side of this problem
for a long time,” Uryasz said. “The scope
of this investigation just shows what can
happen when law enforcement puts its
resources to bear on this problem.”
NEWs
News Briefs
Don Catlin, former director of the
UCLA’s Analytical Laboratory, one of
only two World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) labs in the United States,
retired from the laboratory in March
to concentrate on research. Catlin,
68, told the Washington Post that he
plans to develop and improve tests for
human-growth hormone and erythropoietin through the newly created U.S.
Anti-Doping Institute in Los Angeles.
Catlin is credited with numerous testing
discoveries in his more than 25 years in
the industry.
The Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has asked consumers not to
purchase or use “True Man” or “Energy
Max” products. Both products have
been promoted and sold as dietary
supplements. The FDA sent an alert in
May saying that both products, “touted
as sexual enhancement products and
as treatments for erectile dysfunction,
are illegal drug products that contain
potentially harmful, undeclared ingredients.” The FDA further noted that both
products “contain substances called
analogs that have similar structures to
active ingredients in approved prescription drugs.” These products have not
been approved by the FDA, and there is
considerable concern that the products
could cause a negative interaction with
prescription medications. For more
information, see www.fda.gov or call
888/INFO-FDA.
Insulin may not be a choice for
cheaters much longer. Most sports
organizations have banned insulin use
by non-diabetic athletes because it is
a performance-enhancing substance
that makes carbohydrates burn more
efficiently and also prevents muscle
breakdown. Researchers at the German
Sport University in Cologne recently
announced that they have identified
the unique “fingerprint” of long-lasting
insulin using mass spectrometry, a technique that’s used for other drug tests.
The test is currently being evaluated by
WADA, and there may be a urine test
available by the 2008 Olympics.
Still in search of the
magic bullet
FROM ‘LEGAL sTEROIDs’
TO STIMULANTs, DIETARY
sUPPLEMENTs REMAIN
POPULAR WITH ATHLETEs
From “health and nutrition” stores
to the Internet and even the gas station
down the street, athletes have a huge
variety of dietary supplements at their
disposal. Those supplements — which
include everything from protein powders
to self-proclaimed steroid precursors to
stimulants — promise to build muscle,
improve the results of training and help
athletes lose weight and stay alert.
New products now have their own
pages on MySpace. The “energy drink”
section of the local convenience store
takes up an entire refrigerator case. New
products include caffeinated sunflower
seeds, caffeinated lip balm and energy
drinks with large quantities of caffeine.
Even with changes in federal steroid
laws, action by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) against ephedra and the
risk of positive drug tests, dietary supplements remain as popular as ever with
athletes and with the general population.
The dietary supplement industry in the
United States is a $21.4 billion business
now, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), a trade association
representing companies in the dietary
supplement industry. CRN also reports
“Athletes have this idea that
there is a magic bullet out
there somewhere that can help
them,” said Rachel Olander,
Drug Free Sport’s resource
exchange specialist. “ Unfortunately, most products don’t work
as advertised, and some can be
harmful.”
that there are 29,000 dietary supplement products on the market now, and
it’s apparent that more are added all the
time. If anything, the quest for the magic
supplement — the holy grail that can
build muscle, help you lose weight, look
ripped or recover faster — has gotten
more intense.
“Athletes have this idea that there is
a magic bullet out there somewhere that
can help them,” said
Rachel Olander, formerly
a resource specialist
with Drug Free Sport’s
Resource Exchange Center. “Unfortunately most
products don’t work as
advertised, and some
can be harmful.”
And, those supplements that do work
often include substances that are illegal
without a prescription or banned, either
by the NCAA or by other sports organizations. Most sports organizations hold the
athlete responsible for any substance
found in his or her body.
“Athletes who take supplements do
so at their own risk,” Olander points out.
“Supplements are poorly regulated, and
there have been instances where supplements contained ingredients that were
not listed on the label.”
‘Legal steroids?’
Many of those athletes entranced by
supplements are seeking to add muscle
and bulk. One well known way to do that
is to take steroids. With the passage
of the 2004 Anabolic Steroid Control
Act, many steroid precursors, so called
because they turn into anabolic steroids
once in the body, became Schedule III
controlled substances and no longer legal
in dietary supplements. The best known
of these substances, now illegal without
prescription, was androstenedione, made
famous by former slugger Mark McGwire.
Though that federal legislation undoubtedly made it much more difficult to
consume steroid precursors, either accidentally or intentionally, it seems steroid
precursors are still available.
In March 2006, the FDA sent letters
to four companies it said were distributing steroids in over-the-counter dietary
supplements. Among the supplements
identified at that time were Anabolic
Xtreme Superdrol and Methyl 1-P. Both
had been analyzed, at The Washington
Post’s request, by Don Catlin, then director of the UCLA Analytical Laboratory.
Catlin found anabolic steroids in both
products.
A quick search of the Internet today
will provide a number of sites, along with
a number of products, that claim to be
“legal steroids.” Some companies actually describe their products as “steroid
precursors.”
Athletes from a variety of organizations have contacted the REC and
asked Olander about a number of these
supplements, which include the products
Masterbolan, Masterdrol and Winni-V.
“If you look at the stated ingredients,
it appears that at least some of these
are indeed anabolic steroid precursors,”
Olander said. “It’s possible, even likely,
that they would result in a positive drug
test for steroids. We advise athletes to
avoid them.”
So why aren’t these products illegal?
According to Drug Free Sport’s Frank
Uryasz, it’s probably a matter of time.
“Part of the 2004 Anabolic Steroid
Control Act was the introduction of a new
process to make it easier for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to include future
compounds as steroids. But, the DEA still
has to prove it’s an anabolic steroid.”
Uryasz notes that the new process
is still easier than the old one, which
required the DEA to prove the drug built
muscle, an arduous task that was nearly
impossible without extensive animal
studies.
Another popular supplement for athletes looking to add muscle is creatine, a
supplement that is legal, not banned and
may even work — sort of.
“It’s still a much better situation than it was
before the 2004 law,”
Uryasz said. “Unfortunately, companies are
still trying to push the
envelope. It’s going to be
a constant process for
the government to try to
keep up with them.”
“We still get a lot of questions about
creatine,” Olander said. “It has retained
its popularity for several years now. There
is evidence that it works for some of the
people some of the time, particularly if
the person had low creatine stores in the
first place.”
More Muscle, More ‘Pump’
Athletes remain drawn to other types
of supplements that are said to assist
with building muscle or with workout
recovery.
Olander says athletes are always asking about nitric oxide, sold in a variety
of products that claim a faster recovery
and a “perpetual pump.” By far, the most
popular is a product called NO-Xplode.
“The primary ingredient in most of
these supplements is arginine, which is
an amino acid. Arginine is not banned by
the NCAA or other sports organizations,”
Olander said. “However, most of these
supplements also include caffeine, which
is banned by the NCAA.”
Olander points out that arginine, like
all amino acids, is impermissible for
NCAA institutions to distribute to athletes.
It also may be a waste of athletes’ money.
“Nitric oxide has not been proven
to enhance performance. Many of the
claims you read are based on research
done for erectile-disfunction products,”
Olander said. “If the nitric oxide supplements really worked as claimed, athletes
would have an extremely low blood pressure, but that’s about it.”
Another product popular with athletes
right now is Muscle Milk, which is often
sought by athletes trying to add more
protein to their diets. Some formulations
of Muscle Milk products contain colostrum, which is a rich source of insulin-like
growth-factor 1 (IGF-1), which is banned
by the NCAA and many other organizations.
“We don’t know whether these products containing colostrum do indeed
provide any IGF-1 and whether it would
be detectable in a drug test,” Uryasz said.
“We would advise athletes not to take
supplement products containing colostrum or products purporting to contain
IGF-1, and we would remind NCAA institutions that these products are impermissible to distribute.”
Beyond ephedra
It’s clear that the FDA ban on ephedra
has changed the ingredients of many
supplements popular with athletes. What
hasn’t changed is the search for a similar
stimulant.
Though banned by the NCAA and other
sports organizations, ephedra was a
popular supplement for weight loss until
the FDA ban in 2004. That ban, which essentially removed ephedra from most of
the supplement market, followed several
incidents of adverse effects, including
heart attacks, strokes and death. Court
cases followed as dietary supplement
manufacturers sought to keep distributing the substance.
In April of this year, the U.S. Supreme
Court refused to hear an appeal by dietary supplement manufacturer Nutraceutical International. That decision let
stand a 2006 ruling by a federal appeals
court that upheld the FDA ban.
Now supplement manufacturers have
turned to synephrine, also banned by the
NCAA and many other organizations. Synephrine often shows up in supplements
as bitter orange or zhi shi.
“A huge number of supplements
contain synephrine,” Olander said, noting
that consumption of these supplements
can result in a positive drug test. Some
of the most popular are Lipo-6, the Burn
and Lean System 7. In addition to being
banned, synephrine may have some
adverse health affects.
“There are studies that seem to indicate some of the same health concerns
with synephrine as ephedra,” Olander
said. “You see some of the same side
effects, including an increased blood
pressure and increased heart rate.”
Caffeinated everything
The most popular stimulant now is
caffeine, and it’s in nearly everything.
Athletes seeking a magic bullet to help
them maintain focus and lose weight are
turning to products with large quantities
of caffeine, including “energy drinks” that
are laden with the stimulant. Even Red
Bull, with its 80 milligrams of caffeine in
a serving, is now dwarfed by other products, including Spike Shooter, which has
300 milligrams of caffeine.
(This year, soda manufacturers have
agreed to post caffeine content on labels.
A check of company Web sites shows 25
milligrams of caffeine in eight ounces of
Pepsi and 23 milligrams in eight ounces
of Coke. That’s a mere drop in the bucket compared to Spike Shooter or the 280
milligrams in the drink Cocaine, which is
expected to re-launch soon under a different and less controversial name.)
“We’re seeing more caffeine in supplements than ever before,” Olander said,
noting that caffeine in large quantities is
banned by the NCAA.
In addition to energy drinks, caffeine
is now in candy, from Jolt gum to Java
Pops lollipops. It’s in lip balm, green tea
and even sunflower seeds.
“Many supplements have caffeine anhydrous, but they also have other sources
of caffeine, which include guarana, yerba
mate and green tea. Those ingredients
also show up in many supplements,
making it difficult to tell how much total
caffeine is in the product,” Olander said.
Uryasz points out that athletes should
keep an eye on caffeine intake for several
good reasons.
“We know caffeine is a performance
enhancer,” Uryasz said. “And the caffeine
cut-off level in NCAA drug testing was
set to preclude someone from testing
positive after a couple of sodas. But now,
as the number of caffeinated products
proliferate, it does raise the concern that
you could get a positive test. But I don’t
like to threaten athletes that they will test
positive for caffeine, though they should
understand it’s possible. I’m much more
concerned with excess caffeine consumption from a health and safety perspective,” Uryasz said.
“We know that stimulants, heat,
humidity and exercise can lead to heat
illness and sudden death. That’s true
whether the stimulant is ephedra or caffeine,” Uryasz said.
“I would encourage athletes not to
consume these high-caffeine beverages
and other products immediately before,
during or after exercise. The consequences could be as extreme as the products
claim to be.”
In short, the search for the magic bullet can bite you. Particularly if the bullet is
headed your way.
Insight DEPARTMENTs
NCAA NEWs
NCAA bans hair-growth
agents, adds new class
of banned drugs,
prepares for summer
testing and DIII pilot
NCAA committee makes additions to
banned-drug classes
The NCAA’s Committee on Competitive
Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport
has made some additions
to the NCAA banned-drug
classes, effective for the
2007-08 academic year.
Diuretics and urine
manipulators are already banned as
classes by the NCAA, but the committee
approved an addition specifying that “other masking agents,” including finasteride,
are banned. Finasteride, sold under the
brand names Propecia, Proscar, Fincar
and Prosteride, among others, is used to
treat male-pattern hair loss. It also may
cause a rise in testosterone levels, and it
may mask steroid use.
The committee also
approved adding a new
class to the banned-drug
classes list. Effective in
August 2007, the NCAA
has added “anti-estrogens” as a class. Antiestrogens, also known
as aromatase inhibitors
(AIs), and selective estrogen receptor
modulators (SERMs), are drugs that have
a legitimate use in breast-cancer treatments and prevention. However, some
athletes have reportedly used AIs and
SERMs to mask the physical side effects
of anabolic steroids.
“When athletes use anabolic steroids,
males experience a range of feminizing
side effects, including the development
of breasts,” said Andrea Wickerham, a
Drug Free Sport vice president who oversees the NCAA program. “Some athletes
have turned to AIs and SERMs to minimize those side effects.”
As with all NCAA banned-drug classes,
there is a procedure for student-athletes who have a particular condition or
disease requiring the use of the drugs to
seek a medical exception to do so, Wickerham explained.
“Adding these drugs to the banned
classes has no effect on a student-athlete who has breast cancer and would
have a legitimate need to use the drugs.
“With appropriate medical documentation, an athlete suffering from breast
cancer could use these drugs, just as
athletes with documented ADHD take
stimulants that are otherwise banned,”
Wickerham said. “And unlike ADHD,
breast cancer rarely strikes the collegiate
population. Less than one percent of
breast cancers occur in women under
age 30.”
NCAA summer drug-testing program
prepares for its second year
The NCAA’s year-round drug-testing
program, which became truly year-round
last year with the addition of summer
testing, continues to expand. This summer, drug testing will have an emphasis
on Division I football and baseball, as
well as Division II football. However, all
Division I and Division II student-athletes
in all sports are subject to summer testing, whether they are on campus or off
campus.
In March, NCAA institutions received
a letter from Drug Free Sport’s Michelle
Dorsey, NCAA drug-testing program
manager, outlining the summer drug-testing program. Summer site coordinators
at each institution are
responsible for updating their records on the
Drug Free Sport administrative Web site, www.
ncdfs.com. Dorsey and
her staff are working
to help the process go
smoothly.
“Summer site coordinators are responsible for maintaining summer contact
information for all returning student-athletes,” Dorsey said. “To help institutions
gather this information, we have developed a Summer Drug-Testing Contact
Information Form, which can be found at
www.ncdfs.com. Site coordinators are not
required to use this form, but they may
find it helpful.”
For more information about the NCAA
year-round drug-testing program, refer to
the NCAA Drug-Testing Program Booklet
at www.ncaa.org/health-safety or the Site
Coordinator Manual at www.ncdfs.com.
Division III set to launch year-round
pilot program this fall
Division III is set to launch a pilot yearround drug-testing and drug-education
program this fall, and efforts are underway now to gear up for it. The program
includes the first year-round drug-testing
program in Division III, which previously
had only championships testing.
There will be 115 Division III
institutions participating in the pilot
program, which seeks to assess the
impact of testing and education to deter
drug use. All of the participating institutions will implement a model education
program. About 80 also will participate in
the drug-testing component.
“The pilot program will be assessed
through pre-post surveys of both studentathletes and administrators regarding
their perceptions of the impact of education and testing,” said Mary Wilfert, NCAA
associate director of education outreach.
Participants in the testing component
of the pilot program received information
from Drug Free Sport this spring that
provided details pertaining to the testing.
“In most cases, the institution’s head
athletic trainer will serve as the site
coordinator for the drug-testing program,”
said Drug Free Sport’s Michelle Dorsey.
“The site coordinator logs in on our administrative Web site at www.ncdfs.com
and provides us with updated contact
information and drug-testing calendars,
from which we will schedule year-round
drug testing for the institution.”
Just like the NCAA year-round program
in other divisions, Drug Free Sport will
notify the institution and administer the
testing program. There will be several key
differences, however. There will be no
sanctions applied during the pilot testing,
and the institution will not receive testing
results that identify the athlete. Also,
testing will include street drugs and most
stimulants. For more information about
the Division III pilot program, contact
Mary Wilfert at 317/917-6222.
BAsEbALL NEWs
Minor League program is
an international effort
Since Drug Free Sport began managing collections for the Minor League
Baseball Drug Prevention and Treatment
Program in January 2005, Drug Free
Sport employees have kept their passports handy.
Drug Free Sport has tested Minor
League Baseball players in the United
States as well as in Australia, Canada,
the Dominican Republic, Mexico,
Panama, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and Venezuela.
“The minor league
testing program operates worldwide,” said
Chris Guinty (right), a
Drug Free Sport vice
president who oversees
the program. “We go
where the players are.”
Guinty notes that
Drug Free Sport has benefited from
the expertise of staff members J.D.
Matheus, director of
professional baseball
testing (right), and
Nick Matheus, account
manager, professional
baseball testing (below),
who both speak fluent
Spanish and English.
“It’s been really helpful to have people who can translate on
the spot since much of our travel has
been in Latin countries where major
league teams have baseball academies,” Guinty said.
To support Minor
League Baseball’s commitment to education,
Drug Free Sport also
provides educational
sessions to each minor
league team in the
United States during
spring training. The presentation and the
materials provided to the players are in
both English and Spanish.
“Baseball is becoming more global
everyday,” Guinty said. “So we will too.”
“The day may come when there are Drug
Free Sport staff who speak Japanese,
Chinese or even Korean.”
AsK THE EXPERTs
Can you drink enough
to “beat” a drug test?
To submit a question about drug testing,
supplements and related issues, send it to
Kay Hawes at khawes@SAMIsports.com.
Q. I’ve heard that you can “beat”
a drug test by drinking a lot of water.
I’ve even seen products for sale that
say you can drink them and flush your
system of drugs. Does that work? Oh,
and how long does marijuana stay in
your system?
A. No, you can’t drink your way out
of a drug test. You might think that
it’s possible based on the number of
products that are sold over the Internet
or in supplement stores that are touted
to “flush” drugs out of your system. It
simply doesn’t work that way.
“There are a ton of ‘masking agents’
on the market,” said Drug Free Sport’s
Frank Uryasz. “Most of them require
the athlete to drink copious amounts
of fluid, and the product itself actually
does nothing.”
The only thing that happens when
an athlete drinks too much fluid prior
to a drug test is that he or she gets to
spend more time with the drug-testing
crew. The athlete produces a diluted
sample that is almost water. Drug Free
Sport collectors do a specific-gravity
test onsite to ensure that the sample
is concentrated enough for the laboratory. If it’s too dilute (meaning it has
too much water in it), the athlete must
remain at the testing site until he or
she produces a concentrated sample.
How long marijuana stays in your
body depends on a number of factors,
including your metabolism and body
composition, the potency of the marijuana you smoked and whether you’re
a frequent user or a one-time user.
Speaking generally though, a chronic
user may have marijuana built up in his
or her system, making it detectable for
more than a month. A one-time user
has a much shorter detection window
that may be as short as one day.
Another factor is the testing cut-off
set by the organization. Many sports organizations have cut-offs that are lower
than those used in workplace testing.
The easy way to avoid a positive test
for marijuana? Don’t smoke it in the
first place.
REC UPDATE
REC enters new chapter
with new direction and
new director
This summer, Drug Free Sport’s
Resource Exchange Center (REC) will
have a new direction and a new director.
Drug Free Sport’s
Eric Patterson will be
the new director of
the REC as of June 1.
Patterson has been
with Drug Free Sport since 2005 as a
sports drug-testing collector. Patterson is
a graduate of the University of Kansas,
where he majored in business communications and was a varsity student-athlete
in football and track and field. Patterson
also has a master’s degree in marketing
from American Intercontinental University.
“I’m excited to have
the opportunity to grow
the REC,” Patterson said.
“Rachel Olander has
done a great job making
the REC the one-stop
shop for supplement
advice. We plan to build
on that success.”
Olander remains with Drug Free Sport
and now assumes responsibilities as
Drug Free Sport’s manager of SCAN and
information technology. Her move is part
of a reorganization for Drug Free Sport.
See the accompanying article on page 2.
Patterson notes that plans for the
REC include adding interactive features
to the REC Web site and making it more
attractive to the end user.
“We think it’s important to maintain
the REC’s mission to counter misinformation about supplements,” Patterson
said. “We will still take e-mails and
phone calls, but we’re also going to work
to make the REC Web site more userfriendly. We’d like to change its look
and create more curb appeal while still
providing top-notch information.
“We’re also looking to expand the
REC’s subscriber base,” he said. “The
REC continues to grow as more organizations see the benefit of providing
athletes with confidential information
about supplements and perfornanceenhancing drugs.”
The National Center for Drug Free Sport, Inc.®
c/o Kay Hawes
2537 Madison Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64108
NOTEs
Come see the Drug Free Sport staff at
the NATA Annual Meeting and Trade Show
June 26-30 in Anaheim, Calif. We’re in
Booth 533, and we’d love to see you.
Andrea Wickerham was a panelist
for the Sports Law Symposium, “Emerging Legal Issues Affecting Amateur and
Professional Sports,” held in Kansas City
and presented by the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in April.
Wickerham was part of a panel addressing
performance-enhancing drugs and the
law. Myles Brand, NCAA president, was the
keynote speaker for the symposium.
Drug Free Sport is a sponsor for the
NCAA Regional Rules Compliance Seminars May 13-18 in Denver and June 3-8 in
Miami. Drug Free Sport’s sister company,
SAMI, also is a sponsor of the seminars
this year. Don’t miss the SAMI E-Lounge,
where you can check your e-mail and also
see the debut of the new online directory, SAMI Pages, which works with smart
phones and PDAs. For more information,
see www.SAMIPages.com.
Frank Uryasz is speaking at the National Coaching Educators’ Conference June
7-9 in Indianapolis. For more information,
see www.NCACEinfo.org. The conference
is co-hosted by the NCAA and the National
Federation of State High School
Associations (NFHS).
Drug Free Sport and its sister company, Sports Association Management Inc. (SAMI), celebrated a newly completed office building with an open house April 20. Above, Frank Uryasz
(left) with Bob Fitzgerald (middle) and Bob Henderson of Shughart Thomson & Kilroy.