USAF NEWS ~ Anti Doping General Policy

[Karen Bean]

Motion: Anti-Doping General Policy

The United States Armwrestling Federation (USAF) prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs, anabolic agents, agents designed to mask these drugs, any substances designed for performance enhancing effects and/or any other controlled substances at or in preparation for USAF events. Prescription use of the aforementioned substances is also forbidden without a USAF approved therapeutic use exemption. Further, the USAF does not provide advice pertaining to treatments or medical issues and the athlete is responsible for the use of any medications in manner consistent with USAF regulations. The USAF will honor any appropriately detailed suspension of any athlete from another organization based upon a legitimate anti-doping violation and will impose its own sanctions in the event of a violation of the USAF anti-doping regulations.

Motion was passed and is effective immediately

[Deleted]

Karen: This sounds great, but how will it be enforced?

[Karen Bean]

This is the first step and is just our General Policy. More detailed portions of the Anti Doping Policy will be added as they are finalized among the board. Bear with us, this is not something that can be done overnight but it's a step in the right direction.

[Trenton Meyer]

WOW! That will cut out about 90% or more of your entries!!

[Rob Vigeant Jr.]

Be prepared to see a major ranking shift

[Giles Russell]

Greatness! A step in the right direction is exactly right. A lot of fools better get off cycle now or call A-Roid's boy in Miami and get on the invisible sauce or....not show up! LMAO

[Chris Gobby]

Sounds nice in theory. What happens when the cost of administering tests runs the entree fees up min 50%? I ll be very impressed and surprised if this is actually enforced more than once.

[Deleted]

Thank you Karen!

[user123]

Great news.

[Vazgen Soghoyan]

Great news! But be realistic. More then the half of our athletes are on steroids. How to test them? How to do that? What's the way out? WAF is not able to solve that problem. I have no idea how this anti-doping policy will be enforced. I will be the first volunteer to be tested as you find the way out that will work for American Market!
Karen could you provide more info about this policy?
Thank you.

[Josh McEllrath]

This is outstanding news, and I'm sure we all understand WHY this is necessary within the sport. The problem of actually setting this in motion is now three-fold though.

1. Who will pay for the testing? I've seen testing cost between $60-$170, give or take, unfortunately cheaper is not always better as the panels that are run are much less comprehensive than the higher cost options. Should a puller pay for this to prove their innocence? Should the organization foot the bill?

2. Who will accept the liability of gathering, handling, and maintaining custody of the samples? For confidentiality reasons it should not be anyone associated with the puller or the organization due to legal and integrity reasons. Please don't read into that as me stating that the USAF does not have integrity, I'm not implying that at all. What I am stating is that an inherent liability exists between the organization and the puller should a positive test come up and a credible unbiased third party is not used. This will be a slam dunk for the accused in a court of law if not.

3. Testing is generally done at a remote laboratory, and results are not available for a couple of days to a week. I used to work for FedEx, I've seen packages absolutely destroyed. What happens when the samples come up missing or are compromised in transit? All test samples are null and void.

I only see a few low cost ways regarding this subject. If you want to pull in a USAF sanctioned tourney, or any federations tourney for that matter, you need to be a member. A $40-$50 annual fee should suffice, proceeds help cover drug testing at nationals. You get a card showing your affiliation, they get the capital to test with, they also get your contact info for direct email notification and marketing for their tournaments. Win win.

The other idea is being totally honest about steroids, just like what is done in powerlifting. I could care less if you are on test, but the fact remains it is an advantage to you. There should be a non-tested class at major tournaments, people on cycle can enter and compete free of the possibility of testing. The entry fees should be double of everyone else's, this extra cost could then be set aside to fund additional testing within the tested classes. No persecution, but it is a pay to play game if you choose that path. Everyone wins.

[Vazgen Soghoyan]

All countries federations have similar policy. all of them just is on the....paper

[Rob Vigeant Jr.]

Precisely why we need to be part or an org. And pay dues in.
This money would cover tests and whatnot

[Anthony Snook]

Awesome!

50%, 70%, 90% where does this come from? To my knowledge 99% are one, excluding myself and maybe this one other guy I train with. He's been getting stronger so he's probably hopped up now too.

In all seriousness, I think it's a huge step...

The talk about someone off cycle won't get caught, blah, blah...there is always a 'tard who gets caught.. IDK the losses that come with cycling off, or how long someone would have to be off from pissing hot, but I like my chances a little more vs old boy sauced all to hell.

Thanks USAF..

[Tim Smith]

Strongly agree with that guy ^^^^