I think your being too kind on Mr hock......

I mean a number of players will show the banned substance Salbutamol in their samples...but they are registered Asthmatic so its ok to take it......
as its for a recognised medical condition.

Im not sure if you have "muscle aches" it allows you to take a banned susbtance.

because every man and his dog has probably started a new thread thinking they have an exclusive without checking for any existing.

We had it on here the other week with the semi final threads and everyone was moaning about merging.

To be fair, there's not much actually being said. It is stated on almost every news and sport site that he has tested positive, as long as we stick to that and no more, I'm not sure that it could end up any dodgier than any other thread here. They all go downhill anyway!!!

I have debated it to be honest, but as this topic is all over the news and other forums at the min, it will keep popping up - especially with some of our forum members obsessions with Wigan.

All MODS (Not just on the Wire board) are having to be very cautious with what we allow and what we don't.

Stick to what has been confirmed and we'll be fine

Genuine question.

Who makes things like Benzoylecgonine a banned substance in our sport

If your able to buy a pain relief medication over the counter that has Benzoylecgonine in it then it is'nt a problem surely, if a rugby player had muscle aches and asked the chemist for a medication and they give out Estrom, the chances are the person will not check what there taking because were supposed to be able to trust the chemist profession, it's later reveled than Estrom contains Benzoylecgonine which in rugby league is a banned substance, doesn't seem right to me.

do people Like Hock......i.e not University graduates and not the most intellectual of people look at Andrew Johns, who by his own admission played a large part of his NRL career taking drugs and got a way scott free..... and think I'll have some of that......?

because i just dont understand it....

I cant see how a normal bloke would be so stupid to take drugs, when one of the tasks of your job is to provide urine samples for drugs testing from time to time....

i think they get a big list of what over the counter medicines they can and can't take to avoid this happening

The RFL, UK Sport and wigan wouldn't go public with this if they had a major doubt regarding the source of the Benzoylecgonine being anything other than Cocaine.

I'm sure that someone would have spoken to Hock, and if he said "But I've been taking [ix[/i on perscription from my GP" and [ix[/i could result in trace elements of Benzoylecgonine, then the news would have been kept from the media pending further investigation.

Obviously Gareth Hock is innocent until the second sample is tested and procedures take their course, but I don't think the news would have been released now if there was any chance of the RFL etc looking like idiots (and probably being sued by Hock) in a few weeks time.

stick allegedly on the end of the topic