Party drug tests queried

New Zealand's sport anti- doping agency has questioned the merits of out-of-competition testing of athletes for recreational drugs such as Ecstasy and cannabis.

The issue is in the headlines after Australian rugby league legend Andrew Johns admitted regularly taking recreational drugs during his career.

Under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, athletes are tested for recreational drugs only on game days, but the Australian federal government yesterday flagged that anyone who plays top-level sport faces being tested for illicit drugs at any time. It proposes extending the powers of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority to enable such testing.

But Drug Free Sport New Zealand chief executive Graeme Steel told the Sunday Star- Times that out-of-competition testing in New Zealand would escalate lab costs alone by $150 a sample and questioned whether DFSNZ should be the agency to deal with recreational drug problems in sport. "There are significant problems trying to shoehorn in a recreational drug testing programme alongside a performance-enhancing related programme.

"They're entirely different issues and they need different responses. To take a specific substance because you feel like you might get a better result in a sporting competition . . . is entirely different from doing something because it makes you feel good with your mates. When you take a performance- enhancing drug you're cheating - it's a kind of fraud - you're trying to get a result you haven't earned. Therefore a severe penalty is warranted.

"If you are taking recreational drugs, you're probably harming your health, but you're not getting an advantage that you wouldn't otherwise have. So the same range of penalties in our view are not appropriate." No sports in New Zealand have an in-house recreational drug- testing programme.

In the year to June 30, there were 12 positive results from DFSNZ tests in New Zealand, 11 for cannabis and one for BZP, found in party pills.