Goodbye, Vicks

By Daniel McMahon

While talking about doping in cycling with a friend the other day, he pointed out that USADA’s list of banned substances is pretty long and changes often. I thought about this a bit, then scratched my head.

“But isn’t it common sense what would probably be found on that list?”

Glancing around my place, this friend spied my trusty old Vicks Vapor Inhaler and pointed at it.

“That’s banned from use in competition,” he said. “Is that a common sense item you’d imagine being banned?”

“You mean, my harmless, store-bought, over-the-counter inhaler?” I said. “The one that’s an ideal early spring and late fall prerace ritual that, along with massive amounts of super-strong coffee, has helped me get through many a cyclocross race holeshot congestion-free?”

“Um, yeah,” he said.

It led to more head scratching.

Said friend guided me to search for my inhaler on the Global DRO Web site, which is run through a partnership with USADA.

According to the site,

The Global Drug Reference Online (Global DRO) provides athletes and support personnel with information about the prohibited status of specific substances under the rules of sport based on the current World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List. Visitors can search the Global DRO for specific information on products sold in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Global DRO is brought to you through a partnership between UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES), and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Global DRO is updated regularly and all data is fully verified by pharmacists with experience in the field of anti-doping. Every effort is made to add new products that come on the market in a timely manner.

Anyway, sure enough, there on the search result page was my inhaler. Okay to use out of competition, but verboten during.

It might be something you wanna check out. You may have your own innocent but still illegal performance-enhancing drugs, ones that you’re not even aware are such.

As for the massive amounts of caffeine I get through cups of joe, I’ll have to do a little more research to cover my bases there, too.