[News] NHL suspends Leafs forward Carter Ashton 20 games for PEDs

[sureLoss]

Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli
NHL has suspended Maple Leafs' Carter Ashton 20 games for violating PED program. He'll forfeit $169,185 in salary. Wow.

Craig Custance @CraigCustance
League announces Carter Ashton suspended 20 games for violating terms of NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I thought we didn't have to worry about this in the NHL because PEDs don't help hockey players perform better?

Sigh, I hope this doesn't turn into the fiasco that was the MLB for years.

[Itse]

"You'd have to be really stupid to get caught". Quote from a Finnish NHL player regarding PED's, can't remember which one anymore. (Or whether it was actually an anonymous quote.)

[sureLoss]

Ashton claims he accidentally ingested it while taking medication for Asthma and accepts the suspension and will not appeal.

[terminator]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Ashton claims he accidentally ingested it while taking medication for Asthma and accepts the suspension.

Could be the case, however to simple. He could simply have switched to Alabuterol or whatever; which has a relativley short half life.

Street Pharmacist get in here!

[FlamesAddiction]

If his statement is correct, it sounds like it would be a straight forward appeal with a good case. Odd that he wouldn't try to appeal.

[ComixZone]

Sounds like an innocent, and very unfortunate, mistake.

[Yoho]

I find it a bit hard to believe he wouldn't appeal if this was the case...At least go for a reduced sentence.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Sounds like an innocent, and very unfortunate, mistake.

I dont have asthma or use an inhaler so pardon me if my response sounds obtuse but....are you freaking kidding me??

He took a prescription inhaler from some dude at the gym and just kept it and continued to use it? Despite having an available doctor kicking around at his beck and call?

1. I think its illegal to use other people's prescription drugs.

2. If it worked you take it to your doctor and get one for yourself instead of using Jimmy the Gym Buddy's hand-me-down inhaler.

I'm sorry, this just sounds patently absurd.

[Locke]

[devo22]

I have to use an inhaler from March to June every year because of hay fever. Most of those things have substances in them that will let you fail every single doping test, so even if what he says is true, it was stupid from a professional athlete to continue to use such an inhaler without asking the team doctors. Those athletes have the best doctors at their service at all times, why not ask them? Especially if he suffered "asthmatic spasms". Hard to believe that he wouldn't let the team doctors check him in that case.

[Poe969]

wow, he wasn't even playing that well. Imagine how bad he would have been without them.....

[JohnnyT]

Problem here isn't the fist use, its the second, hence why there's no appeal

[Buck Murdock]

Clenbuterol is a serious performance enhancing drug. Any athlete knows that it works and that its banned. He's never been diagnosed with asthma, and received the drugs from a "friend". Probably the tip of the iceberg of PED cheating in the NHL.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by terminator

Could be the case, however to simple. He could simply have switched to Alabuterol or whatever; which has a relativley short half life.

Street Pharmacist get in here!

Yeah. Not sure how much benefit clenbuterol would provide. It's basically ventolin with a longer half life. In really high doses I suppose it might get you up for a game, but so could coffee.

I don't know much about the doping uses of it, but I do know is not readily commercially available in Canada, and highly doubt it is in the states. Seems extremely weird sometime would just randomly have an clenbuterol inhaler that for asthma. Salbutamol (or Albuterol as it's called down south) is what EVERY doctor prescribed. Something is weird here

[terminator]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Yeah. Not sure how much benefit clenbuterol would provide. It's basically ventolin with a longer half life. In really high doses I suppose it might get you up for a game, but so could coffee.

I don't know much about the doping uses of it, but I do know is not readily commercially available in Canada, and highly doubt it is in the states. Seems extremely weird sometime would just randomly have an clenbuterol inhaler that for asthma. Salbutamol (or Albuterol as it's called down south) is what EVERY doctor prescribed. Something is weird here

Would'nt his intention be to open up his airways allowing richer oxygen levels in his blood and hence a better game? with the added benefit of drop a few lbs of fat?

[GioforPM]

Leafs are no good (at playing clean, at not getting caught, at making up excuses).

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

Yeah. Not sure how much benefit clenbuterol would provide. It's basically ventolin with a longer half life. In really high doses I suppose it might get you up for a game, but so could coffee.

I don't know much about the doping uses of it, but I do know is not readily commercially available in Canada, and highly doubt it is in the states. Seems extremely weird sometime would just randomly have an clenbuterol inhaler that for asthma. Salbutamol (or Albuterol as it's called down south) is what EVERY doctor prescribed. Something is weird here

Cenbuterol is often used by body builders to help them 'cut' or by woman trying to lose weight.

Perhaps his "buddy" was using it for more nefarious purposes than asthma.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by terminator

Would'nt his intention be to open up his airways allowing richer oxygen levels in his blood and hence a better game? with the added benefit of drop a few lbs of fat?

Increasing O2 is pretty much what blood doping was all about.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by terminator

Would'nt his intention be to open up his airways allowing richer oxygen levels in his blood and hence a better game? with the added benefit of drop a few lbs of fat?

Yes, increasing oxygen would be the idea, but that's irrelevant if you're airways aren't closed from asthma. Non asthmatics see very little change in their FEV1 (Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 second. Essentially, how much air you can blow out in a second). Asthmatics' little airways are restricted, and clenbuterol/Salbutamol would open them up. This isn't the case in noon asthmatics.

People do abuse Salbutamol in weight lifting, though the amounts used are massive. I'm guessing for drugs like Salbutamol they're likely looking at a higher blood concentration threshold to be considered doping. Clenbuterol may be the same. At high doses they are stimulants, but I just don't think they'd improve performance by much, though that's without looking into it. There's some evidence in rats that it can help build muscle at high doses, so it may be applicable in doping. I don't know anything about that though