No excuse for Jamie Lewis' positive test
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In February I wrote about Swedish forward Nicklas Backstrom and how he deserved no sympathy for testing positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine at the Sochi Olympics.
Backstrom's test wasn't the only positive one that affected a hockey player at the Games.
Latvian national Vitalijs Pavlovs also tested positive, for another stimulant by the name of methylhexaneamine or DMAA.
This past week it was announced that North Bay Battalion forward Jamie Lewis would be suspended eight games by the Ontario Hockey League for testing positive for the substance DMAA.
In the release sent out by the OHL, Commissioner Dave Branch says that the positive test was the result of the inadvertent use of DMAA which they said was found in an over the counter medicine.
Except it isn't found in over the counter medicines or supplements.
At least not in Canada.
Methylhexaneamine was banned from distribution in Canada some years ago after originally being introduced as a nasal decongestant.
The only way to get that particular drug is to go through American supplement companies that include it because of its stimulant properties.
And even then, it is still a banned substance.
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) governs which drugs can be used in sport.
The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which handles all Canadian Hockey League drug testing, abides by the WADA list and distributes that list to all players in the three CHL leagues at the beginning of the season.
Lewis and his trainers with the Battalion knew, or should have known, which supplements he is allowed to use under the CCES and WADA guidelines, erasing the excuse of being ignorant to DMAA's status.
That is an undeniable truth.
And in today's world of sport, the excuse of not knowing that a certain substance is banned is no longer a viable one.
It took less than five seconds on a Google search to come up with the WADA Prohibited List. It is that easy to discover what is not allowed to be used, and like I mentioned previously, Lewis was provided that list at the beginning of the hockey season.
Knowing that the drug was banned, and knowing that it is not obtainable in Canada, means that there was a severe lapse in judgment.
Just like any other athlete in today's world of high pressure sports, Lewis should have cleared his use of all supplements or medicines with his trainer.
Athletes know that they have to do this, just to err on the side of caution.
So while he may not have known that DMAA was in whatever he was using, that plead of ignornace does not work.
Because he does know that he is responsible for what he puts into his body, and unless it comes directly out of the ground or from an animal, there is a chance that it contains something that shouldn't be there.