NHL Players Will Be Tested for Performance-Enhancing Drugs

Author: 
Reuters
Publication Date: 
Sun, 2005-07-17 03:00

TORONTO, 17 July 2005 — National Hockey League (NHL) players will be tested for performance-enhancing drugs and face long bans if they offend, a spokesman for the players’ union said on Friday.

As part of the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement, which still needs ratifying, the players would be subject to at least two drug tests a year without warning.

First-time offenders would receive a 20-game suspension, repeat offenders would get 60 games and players caught a third time face a permanent ban from the NHL.

“The negotiating parties did not have difficulty reaching consensus on a performance-enhancing drug testing program,” said the NHL Players’ Association (NHLPA) senior director Ted Saskin in an e-mail on Friday.

“The NHLPA has always been against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in hockey, and our members have been subject to testing during the last two Olympics and numerous other international hockey competitions with no positive results.”

The decision follows similar moves from other professional sports which have faced pressure from US Congress to stiffen existing drug-testing policies.

The US Congressional hearing in May focused on drug use in Major League Baseball and the National Football League but members of the NHL and its union were also in attendance.

Saskin did not mention the drugs that would be on the league’s prohibited list. Previously, the NHL only tested players who voluntarily entered its substance-abuse program.

On Wednesday, the NHL and the players’ union reached a tentative agreement for a new six-year deal which is expected to be ratified by the two sides next week and end a marathon lockout that has already wiped out an entire season. The players are scheduled to get together in Toronto on Wednesday and Thursday while owners will meet in New York on Thursday. The National Football League substance-abuse policy includes a four-game suspension for a first offense and a six-game suspension for a second violation.

Major League Baseball, which banned steroids in 2002, has suggested its players receive 50-game suspensions for a first positive test, 100-game bans for a second and lifetime bans for a third infraction starting in 2006.

The National Basketball Association’s new agreement includes suspensions of 10 games for a first offense, 25 games for a second, one year for a third offense and a lifetime ban for a fourth.

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