ROSS REBAGLIATI UNFAIRLY ACCUSED
                   AND STRIPPED OF GOLD MEDAL
                          (by C.T.)
  Ross Rebagliati has been reinstated as of Thursday and rightly so.
There was no legal or moral grounds upon which the IOC (International
Olympic Committee) or FIS (Federation Internationale du Ski - responsible
for getting snowboarding into the Olympics) could make the allegation
of marijuana use during competition formally stick, though they did
say they only found passive amounts.
  I don't think Rebagliati is a "stoner" and his claim that he possibly
acquired the primary chemical from cannabis in his system by being in a
marijuana smoke-filled environment, or major party, prior to the games
could be quite true and the chemical does remain in the body for quite
some time.
  A lot of people don't believe this but we all have heard of the bad
health effects of secondary smoke from tobacco.  So why should marijuana
be any different and it's obvious that tar from cigarettes remains in
the lungs for ages, though nicotine dissipates rapidly.  Plus, if
Rebagliati had been exposed to B.C. grown "hi-test", it is more potent
than anything FIS or IOC might be aware of as their regulation standards
in this regard are out-dated.  I don't know if Rebagliati is guilty of
smoking pot or whether he was simply exposed to it at a party.  The
test does prove that he couldn't have taken any while he was in Japan,
so on any pending criminal charge of possession and use are not valid.
   Also FIS and IOC do not list cannibis as a banned substance and their
regulations do state that some sort of disciplinary action MAY be taken
if tests are positive, which shouldn't be the same punishment as a banned
substance and surely it shouldn't be the stripping of his medal. Even
though FIS regulations only allow 15ng (NanoGrams) of cannabis or
marijuana metabolytes in the testing, Rebagliati was only showing 17.5ng,
which is a very miniscule amount and hardly enough to affect his
performance win in any way.  Cannabis is not a performance enhancing drug
so I don't know what the problem is with those officials.
  Another thing is that the testing for cannibis is not universally
applied to all of the winter sports.  They haven't said which sports
are tested for it but I can assume that snowboarding is one and maybe
freestyle moguls since both have some reputation related to drug culture
and rebellious youth.
  Another reason could be the IOC is trying to politically remove Canada
from the running for the medals in the event.  If Rebagliati was officially
stripped of the medal, Italy would get the gold, Switzerland the silver
and Austria the bronze.  All European countries obviously and judging
has been an issue in figure skating as well --- pairs and ice dance.
There the judges ban together to boost each others athletes.  It is
possible that the IOC wanted a European country to win and Italy is
known to try and fix competitions in their favor.  This is speculation
but it is a current controversy.  Perhaps all the IOC wanted to do was
set an example for the sport at Rebagliati's expense.
  A case in point perhaps is Jonny Moseley who won gold in Men's Freestyle
Moguls for the U.S.  He was recently on David Letterman's show and he
looked like he was way stoned.  So, I think it's natural for most to be
their best for the competition and party after.  It doesn't make sense
that Rebagliati would want to jeopardize his chances since he seems to
be an achiever for the sport and he probably knows that you can't deliver
any medal-winning performance while under the influence of marijuana.
  Justice has been served but if I were Rebagliati, I would sue someone
or some organization for their infraction of their own regulations and
making one go through hell.  There is also a chance that all this media
hype will increase Rebagliati's worth on the market for sponsorship,
endorsements, books, TV appearances, etc.  I think he needs the services
of a good agent.  So the money might roll in anyway.  Good for him.
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