Since their creation earlier this year the BC Athletic Commission has been one of the busiest in the Country overseeing a host of amateur and professional combat sports events with perhaps the most high profile being the recent World Series of Fighting event this past weekend in Vancouver.
With all of these events how many Therapeutic Use Exemptions have been granted for otherwise prohibited substances? Surprisingly the answer is none as the Commission has yet to be asked to grant a single TUE.
I reached out to BC’s Athletic Commissioner to find out what policies are in place for TUE’s. So far there are none. Mr. Maedel responded as follows to my question asking if a TUE policy is in force yet:
Not at this time.
It has not come up as an issue yet and, as such, it has not risen to the top of the very high pile of things to do. Should we need to deal with a request for a TUE I anticipate we would be able to put something together based on industry practices.
For what it’s worth the framework is in place for a sensible TUE policy. Section 21(2) of the BC Regulation reads as follows:
“For the purpose of this regulation, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of prohibited substances and methods applies as amended from time to time“
WADA has set standards for obtaining TUE’s and the path of least resistance would be for BC to formally adopt the WADA standards if they are not already absorbed by the language of Section 21. The WADA TUE standards are as follows:
The four criteria that must be fulfilled before a TUE is granted are set forth
in the International Standard for TUEs:
1. “The Athlete would experience a significant impairment to health if
the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method were to be withheld in
the course of treating an acute or chronic medical condition.” (Article
4.1 a. of the International Standard for TUEs.)
2. “The Therapeutic Use of the Prohibited Substance or Prohibited
Method would produce no additional enhancement of performance
other than that which might be anticipated by a return to a state of
normal health following the treatment of a legitimate medical
condition.
3. “There is no reasonable Therapeutic alternative to the Use of the
otherwise Prohibited Substance or Prohibited Method.” (Article 4.1
c of the International Standard for TUEs.)
4. “The necessity for the Use of the otherwise Prohibited Substance or
Prohibited Method cannot be a consequence, wholly or in part, of
prior non-Therapeutic Use of any Substance from the Prohibited
List.” (Article 4.1 d. of the International Standard for TUEs.)
Combat Sports Law 