PCP: Should drug testing be mandatory for all university athletes in Canada? – Point

As many of you have probably already heard, the University of Waterloo has recently announced that during the next season of varsity football, competitive play will be cancelled. What lead to this has been retold several times, but to sum up, it started with the arrest of a Waterloo Warriors football player who was charged with possession and trafficking of anabolic steroids. This eventually led to at least 8 other players who have been charged with anti-doping infractions, which then lead to the suspended season.

This without a doubt is a very unfortunate situation, one that will not only affect the present, but one that could have very big ramifications for all parties involved down the line; however, when this whole situation started, I looked into the drug policy and procedures in place and was shocked (but not surprised) to see that the current system in place is more flawed than Miley Cyrus’ front teeth. Last year, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (the national governing body of university sports) tested 211 athletes out of the 10 000 plus who participated in varsity athletics last year. In other words, these guys and gals were just not being tested.

So how on earth can universities cry foul of a drug problem when the NATIONAL GOVERNING BODY has basically allowed their athletes to do whatever they want without even the slightest threat of being caught?

There are many avenues that one could take to resolve drug issues in sports. There are plentiful sports leagues around the world that have drug testing policies in place that CIS could follow as a guide in terms of drug testing.

But the easiest of them all is to simply test every athlete that competes.

Keeping with the current CIS policy, how is it fair that only certain athletes are tested on a team? Yes, it is a random process, but when top level athletes compete, why take away from their credibility, their talent by testing a measly 2% of the entire athletic body? In the world of higher learning, why accentuate the importance of honesty, integrity and credibility in academics when the same can’t be done for all other aspects of those same schools? When we engineers hand in our assignments, are we not all under the same microscopic eye that is Policy 71? It would be absolute bollocks if for every 100 assignments, 98 of them had a blind eye turned towards them. Why can’t the same be said for drug testing?

And no, drug testing is not cheap, costing $500 – $600 a test. But this should be a necessary cost, a small price to pay to make sure that the competition amongst the countries institutions of highest learning go about with honesty and integrity.

The point that I am trying to convey is simple: test anyone and everyone who competes on a highly competitive level. All athletes shouldn’t be under a constant microscope, but testing everybody will help level the playing field and keep those athletes who are tempted honest.

Just make everyone pee into the plastic cup. Simple.