Calls for reduced drugs bans at London Olympics

London has a reputation for being a party town and a year before thousands of young and fit athletes move into the Olympic village together and prepare to take part in the 2012 Games, the British anti-doping agency is calling for leniency for competitors who test positive for recreational drugs.
 
UK Anti-Doping, which is responsible for testing British athletes, says there should be more flexibility if participants are found to have taken drugs like cocaine and ecstasy as opposed to performance-enhancing drugs.
 
At the moment anyone testing positive for a banned substance during the Games is given an automatic two-year ban. But according to the Times, UKAD has told the World Anti-Doping Agency that it thinks this approach is too harsh.
 
The paper quotes Michael Stow, head of science and medicine at UKAD, as saying that any stimulants "should absolutely still be prohibited, but we'd like more flexibility in the sanction we give...

"If we think someone's been taking a substance to cheat, we would still give two years, but more often it's a case of them being used in a social setting. We want the prohibited list to be an evidence-based document, not a question of morals and ethics."

Athletes are not immune to the lure of recreational drugs. American swimmer Michael Phelps, who won eight gold medals at Beijing, was banned for three months after being accused of smoking marijuana in 2009. British sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis was given a public dressing down after he, too, was accused of taking the drug. Cuban high-jumper Javier Sotomayor tested positive for cocaine in 1999.
 
There are other reasons for taking banned substances. Last year American athlete LaShawn Merritt failed a drugs test after taking a medicine called ExtenZe. The manufacturers claim it is made of "good quality herbs" that will increase the size of one's manhood and aid sexual performance.
 
Stow's calls have divided opinion. Anti-drugs campaigners believe that relaxing the rules for recreational drugs would send out the wrong message.
 
Baroness Grey-Thompson, who won 11 Paralympic gold medals, said: "If you choose to be an athlete and are in the public eye, you have a certain responsibility of how to behave." ·