Leave VCB to clear her name

So, the harsh realities of the fight against drugs in sport have been brought to Jamaica's door by way of a positive test returned by our own favourite, Veronica Campbell-Brown (VCB).

Every Jamaican, including your humble scribe, hopes and expects there's a rational explanation for the detection of a banned substance in VCB's body. After all, we're not talking about famous drug-cheating foreigners. This is Veronica. This is our Queen. Say it ain't so.

Well, it doesn't have to be. But Jamaicans must appreciate that the only person who can prove it ain't so is Veronica herself. No amount of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by an adoring public will alter the result of the tests on her A and B samples, which both returned identical positives for a drug named furosemide, known in horse-racing circles as Lasix. Before we get carried away, think twice.

I can't believe it's true.

Hearing goodbye from you

after what we've been through;

after so long.

Think Twice, My Love, a love anthem recorded by high-class Jamaican crooner and all-round nice guy John Jones, could easily have been intended to herald the harsh sporting realities Jamaicans must now face if we are to get through the next few weeks and months retaining our sanity.

Reality No. 1: Lasix is a very strong diuretic used by some athletes to mask steroid use. It's specifically on the banned list of drugs that ought not to be found in any athlete's body.

Reality No. 2: Lasix lowers blood pressure by removing fluid from the blood and combining it with salts removed from the kidneys to promote excessive urination. In horse racing, it's used to lower the risk of 'bleeding', which is to say the bursting of blood vessels by horses under stress (fast gallops). In humans, it can also be used to treat high blood pressure. Jockeys use Lasix all the time to lose a few quick pounds and make a particular riding weight.

Reality No. 3: Don't be confused by the use of the term 'masking drug'. This doesn't mean that some potent amphetamine or other stimulant is taken with Lasix and the Lasix somehow hides the other drug from the drug tester. Steroids are out-of-competition drugs used to enhance exercise activity and so build muscle and endurance. There are no magic stimulants taken 10 minutes before a race that make an athlete mistake the starting blocks for the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. That only happens in dime-store novels.

In real life, designer steroids are used in-between competition to promote quicker-than-normal results (fitness; recovery from injury; bodybuilding) and the athlete stops ingesting the steroids when competition looms. Because steroids can linger in the system, Lasix, a strong diuretic, is used to flush the system of any lingering evidence of steroid use. This is why it's called a 'masking drug'.

Reality No. 4: There's no need to be able to identify the drug being 'masked' in order to declare an athlete 'positive'. It's inaccurate to state, as has been done on a radio talk show, that in horse racing, no positive is called for a 'masking drug' and that the drug being 'masked' must be identified.

Before officially applied raceday Lasix was permitted in Jamaica's horse racing, any trace of Lasix in a horse's system was declared a positive. In the 1980s, a string of positives were called by the racing chemist because a drug called polyoxyethylene glycol (PEG) was detected, despite the fact that PEG was an inert substance that couldn't affect the performance of any horse. It was a masking agent.

The Racing Commission doggedly acted on its chemist's findings in the celebrated PEG cases and succeeded, despite the positive call being challenged by a team of high-powered lawyers in the Supreme Court.

Reality No. 5: The ball is now very much in VCB's court. She must explain, with credibility, how the drug entered her system. The good news here is the report that the alleged source of the drug was in a cream used by VCB to innocently treat a knee injury, and that the use of the cream was declared by VCB on her pre-race declaration form. She's off to a good start.

If that report is accurate, it's an excellent start. It's not enough. Any athlete who finds him/herself in these dire straits must prove that the athlete was not careless or wilful in using the declared product. Could the athlete have known of the presence of Lasix/furosemide by reading the label? Was there anything on the label that would normally have raised a red flag so that the athlete should have consulted experts before using the product? Who did she consult? What was she told? Will her consultant testify on her behalf and corroborate her evidence?

It's not for the Disciplinary Panel or the JAAA to prove the negative of all the above. It's for the athlete to prove that she did all she could to protect her body from the substance and that the presence of a banned substance in her body was inadvertent.

At the end of the day, it should be clear to the Disciplinary Panel that it's a shock to all and sundry that this substance turned out to contain Lasix AND that this shock was reasonably felt. It's only by this sort of acceptance of the onus of proof and thorough discharge of that onus that any athlete, including VCB, can escape serious sanction.

STOUT DEFENCE

VCB must now show by clear, cogent and frank testimony that she was neither malicious nor negligent. If she accomplishes that, she could well end up with a simple reprimand and we'll be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Gave you everything I've got.

All my days were good and bad.

Now, before you make me sad,

think twice my love.

VCB has given Jamaica her all over the years. What she needs right now is to be left alone to work on the production of the testimony required to clear her name. Jamaica won't assist by bombarding her or her management team for comment. More than ever before, the VCB focus, for which she has become famous, must be allowed to operate without distraction.

So, before you hound her and her management, legal or medical consultants for that 'Bite of the Week' that'll give your media house a leg-up on the competition, think twice.

Don't let a handsome face

or just a warm embrace

or anything replace

true love for you.

Right from the very start

you said we'd never, never part

and now you break my heart.

What did I do?

Already, the foreign press is circling like vultures. No article has been written; no broadcast commentary made; without taking the opportunity to call the names of other Jamaican greats who have never been called positive but who have embarrassed the world with their brilliance. This is the golden opportunity presented to Jamaica's enemies to return the favour.

Make no mistake, VCB's case will be used by the foreign press as a Jamaican template by which all Jamaican athletes will be judged. Upon Veronica's slim shoulders lie the hopes, dreams and aspirations of an entire nation and the future of its athletic reputation. She should be told in the clearest possible language what it is she has to do. Then we must leave her alone so she can concentrate on what must be done. Then she must do it.

Then, when it's all over, hopefully, we can all celebrate together and she can return to what has been a career characterised by excellence and integrity.

Peace and love.

Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.