RE: Drug policy

[Steph Teeter <step@fsr.com>]

AERC recognizes the problem of zero tolerance for many of
the reasons Kristen states. Last year there was a case of a
rider using an old bute syringe to administer electrolytes - 
the horse was tested and showed positive for bute. Even though
the veterinary committee stated that the amount of bute found
in the blood was *extremely* low, AERC had no option but to follow the
rules as written and penalize the rider.

Due to this the inflexibility in the way the drug rule was written and 
the way infractions had to be dealt with, the issue was discussed at the '98 
AERC board meeting. The board voted to allow AERC some level of 
discretion when dealing with individual postitive drug test cases. AERC 
now has the option to issue a warning, or whatever is appropriate
to a given case, rather than mandatory punishment. There is still a
zero tolerance drug policy, but a case which is obviously not an
intentional violation may be treated on an individual basis.

If you think about it, it would be *really* difficult, if not impossible for
AERC to define 'acceptable' levels for the hundreds of drugs available.
This way each case can be dealt with individually, based on input
from the vet committee.

Steph

-----Original Message-----
From:	Stephanie Wind [SMTP:wind@visionsofthewind.com]
Sent:	Tuesday, July 28, 1998 1:22 PM
To:	ridecamp@endurance.net; Kristen L Olko
Subject:	Re: Drug policy

I have to agree here! Is there any way to petition for a change from "zero"
level to an "acceptable" level?

Stephanie Wind McCray

----------
From: Kristen L Olko <krisolko@juno.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: Drug policy
Date: Tuesday, July 28, 1998 12:14 PM

Let me just start out with the disclaimer that I am totally against
drugging a horse
before any competition for the purposes of performance enhancement or
injury hiding. 
<snip>
As I said, I'm not for drugging horses to mask pain or injury. If my horse
is in trouble, I want to know and take care of it. Please don't flame me as
a thoughtless horse owner. I just think that with the long withdrawal times
for some substances, the individual ifferences among hoses and the
inumerable number of drugs available for which withdrawal times are
unknown,  that the policy may need some adjustments.Perhaps some acceptable
(nonperformance  influence)  levels instead of zero tolerance.

Kris