USADA explains post-event TUE process for masters tracksters
Annie Skinner, a spokeswoman for USADA, sent me this note today: “Erin Hannan in our office forwarded your inquiry to me, and I wanted to make sure to get back to you with some follow up information. There is a section on the USADA website that can help athletes understand whether they need a TUE or not. According to USADA policy, athletes not currently in a registered testing pool are considered Level 2, or Non-National Level Athletes. This group of athletes may include recreational level, Masters level, or even elite level athletes that do not presently meet the criteria for pool inclusion. Level 2 athletes are not required to submit a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) in advance of use in sport for certain prohibited substances.
Annie’s note continues:
This is limited to the following substances:
1. Substances that are prohibited only in-competition
2. Diuretics and other masking agents
3. Beta-2 agonists
4. Insulin- where the athlete can provide medical files demonstrating insulin-dependent diabetes.All other prohibited substances require a Therapeutic Use Exemption in order to use the substance in sport without incurring an anti-doping rule violation. This applies to ALL athletes, including LEVEL 2 athletes.
The FIRST time a Level 2 athlete tests positive for one of the substances listed in 1-4 above, they will have an opportunity to submit medical documentation to USADA to demonstrate the medical need for such medications. If the medical file substantiates that the athlete used the prohibited substance only for medical needs, and if the medical file puts to rest any suspicion of doping or the intent to dope, then the athlete will not incur an anti-doping rule violation. From that point forward, the level 2 athlete may be asked to apply for Therapeutic Use Exemptions for all substances, including those listed above (1-4) that generally don’t require a Therapeutic Use Exemption from Level 2 athletes. The US Anti-Doping Agency will work with the athlete to help them understand the rules and requirements surrounding Therapeutic Use Exemptions in the event that this occurs.
Athletes who have chronic diseases or disorders (which must be treated long-term with one or more of the four prohibited substance classes listed above) and who wish to compete on a National Level are recommended to apply for a Therapeutic Use Exemption in spite of this policy.
USADA does not provide medical advice. USADA encourages all athletes to make sound medical decisions with their physicians. USADA only advises on the use of prohibited substances in sport.
Well I still have them from time to time, since the arm is broke in two places. Sometimes pains are just unsupported. Taking it with buy tramadol and it helps to calm it down in 9-18 minutes and lasts 6 hours for sure. No side effects noted for me.
I hope this helps.
3 Responses
This answers some questions that some of us may have had about drug testing (Ken Effler, in his comment on the BJ Duhon story, was kind enough to point us to this information).
In brief, I thought that masters were in the same boat as open athletes: there was one list of banned substances, and that was that. Now we find that masters athletes do not even need a TUE, at least initially, for certain banned substances, including insulin and diuretics, among others.
Given the many millions of masters-age Americans with diabetes or hypertension, this is welcome news. We are different after all, and that is recognized at least in part by USADA.
These substances must provide some athletic performance advantage or they wouldn’t appear on ANY list. TUE or not, it’s unfair to have those on these drugs competing against those who are not, in my humble opinion.
A separate USATF-TUE Association should be started
John, I think you have a misunderstanding of how most drugs work. Using insulin as an example, it works differently in someone who is insulin-deficient (where it works to reduce high blood sugar) than in someone whose endogenous insulin production is fine (where it works primarily as a growth factor). Same principle for androgenic steroids, bronchodilators, etc. As has been pointed out elsewhere, some of the drugs on the list (e.g.. diuretics) are not performance-enhancing at all on their own, but are used to mask other such drugs. So a TUE is meant to identify those situations where the drug is being used to treat a medical condition, not to enhance performance in a healthy individual. In my humble opinion, it is not unfair at all to have those on a TUE competing against those who don’t happen to need one. Someone is not a better athlete because they are lucky enough not to need a TUE, nor should they feel disadvantaged if they’re competing against someone who can only be healthy with the use of a TUE drug.
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