Motorsport: NZ Race Driver Banned After Positive Drug Test

[Herb Fellow]

A New Zealand V8 racecar driver has been banned after returning a positive drug test for a banned recreational drug. Dale Lambert tested positive for cannabis at the Manfeild round of the NZV8s in February 2007. Drug Free Sport New Zealand officials arrived at the circuit for the first-ever drug screening episode of the sport without prior notice and selected three Toyota Racing Series drivers and four NZV8 drivers.

"Our members are subject to WADA's list of banned substances and it's the first time the agency has turned up at a circuit," said MSNZ general manager Ross Armstrong. "It's disappointing that we've had a positive urine test first time up but it reinforces to competitors that drugs will not be tolerated in the sport." Unlike alcohol and other recreational drugs that leave the human system relatively quickly, cannabis can be found in tests up to 23 days later. Testing for alcohol at meetings has been put in place and any driver found with any trace will immediately be stood down. The anti-doping authorities are also concerned about the use of m###########ine or P.

After testing positive for cannabis, Lambert was advised of the result and the matter was referred to MotorSport NZ for adjudication. Lambert did not appear at the meeting but sent a letter admitting taking the cannabis, albeit some considerable time prior to the test. The tribunal ruled the allegation was proved and Lambert was excluded from the New Zealand V8 championships for 2007-08 and his competition licence suspended until May 2010.

For a sport where the slightest miscalculation or lack of concentration can put a driver in the wall, motor racing has been a little slow over the years in introducing mandatory random drug testing. Formula 1 has a random-testing system in place where at any meeting drivers can be tested. Nascar also has a system but tests only on reasonable suspicion.

Other forms of the sport have various testing processes in place, but there are calls for more more stringent procedures.

Source: The New Zealand Herald
Copyright: 2008, The New Zealand Herald
Contact: Eric Thompson
Website: Motorsport: NZ race driver banned after positive drug test - 28 Apr 2008 - Motoring including motorsport, A1GP, news, reviews and comment - New Zealand Herald

 

[Smokin Moose]

I'm sorry , but I feel no sympathy whatsoever for this driver. Motor racing, particularly V8's, is inherently dangerous, and to drive impaired as a professional driver, is a travesty of common sense! I think he is an idiot for risking the lives of other drivers AND the public!

 

[Herb Fellow]

admitting taking the cannabis, albeit some considerable time prior to the test.

Do you think it is wrong for him to ever smoke cannabis? More than likely, he wasn't stoned at the time of the race. If this is the case, many workers around the world would NEVER be able to smoke cannabis for fear of failing a drug test days after smoking. You or I would never be able to drive.

 

[Smokin Moose]

No, I don't think it's wrong for him to consume cannabis, but I do thinks it's wrong that his use may impair him in a way that puts other's welfare in jeopardy. A professional sport that relies on split second timing to avoid lethal peril, should not have competitors who are possibly impaired by ANY drug, not just cannabis. So, I guess it's the impairment factor rather than the cannabis issue for me. Safety before pleasure.

 

[Herb Fellow]

I'm sorry, but I don't see where he was impaired, just that he failed a urine test. I agree with you that safety should come before pleasure. Everything we do for pleasure isn't necessarily safe, but we should never put ourselves in a place where our pleasure puts others' in jeopardy.

 

[MildGreens]

The V8 driver was tested for the presence of metabolites of cannabis. The metabolites are the left overs, the residual chemical structure from the active ingredient. They are not proof of impairment rather the opposite, their existence shows that what ever THC (and any impairment associated with the unfamiliarity with the THC experience) has been used up, its gone, no longer active however they are proof, even at nanogram quantities that cannabinoids have been in this driver system. Personally, I would rather work, recreate and take risks (and have done so many times) with someone who can make a rational choice to consume cannabis in a responsible manner than someone for whom other drugs, many of them legal, can have confounding effects.

The former UK top cop, Det. Chief Super, Eddie Ellison described cannabis testing of drivers as the logical equivalent of licking the exhaust pipe to see if the car exceeded the speed limit last week.

That every driver on the circuit is pumping with adrenalin, dopamine, testosterone and more is clear to me. Whereas alcohol impairment is not just limited to cognitive impairment post use, it can debilitate a drivers capacity to sustain high levels of these natural drugs hours and days after binge drinking.

Cannabis [in this case] is being hung out to dry while alcohol and prescribed drugs escape attention.

Notably, the winners podium will be awash with fermented liquors, the venue replete with the obligatory 'drink more beer' hordings, the chardonay set swimming in corporate liquid refreshments and, going by the glass in the waste bins, spectators similarly fueled.

High powered double standards... (that evidentialy sets up every one for failure...)

 

[Smokin Moose]

^You make some good points. Thank you!

 

[Boss]

I agree with Mildgreens. They need to devise a test to find Active thc or somthing. Smoking a joint even the day before should have no effect on driving the next day.

 

[zolar]

if testing positive for pot in a urine test after abstaining for 2-3 weeks gets one
suspended or banned the banned person should file for due process if where they are has it and require that persons being tested should be asked have you consumed beer wine or distilled spirits in the last three weeks and that equivelant penulties be applied