MacLeod: Failed a doping test

I was pretty unaware of the different types of asthma medication but this experience has been a bit of a wake-up call.

Scott MacLeod
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Scotland lock Scott MacLeod has been cleared to continue playing despite failing a doping test.

MacLeod tested positive for a banned asthma medication, having failed to get the necessary clearance to use it.

However an independent judicial committee has cleared him retrospectively - with MacLeod "found to have inadvertently taken a prohibited asthma medication without the required permission".

MacLeod, capped 16 times by Scotland, was tested by UK Sport as part of the Scottish Rugby Union's no-notice doping control tests at a national team training session on January 25

The presence of Terbutaline, a drug taken through an inhaler to treat asthma, was found in the sample - with MacLeod missing the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) needed.

However, although the Scarlets forward did not have the exemption for Terbutaline, he does have a current TUE for another asthma medication Salbutamol.

Unintentional

The Scottish Rugby Union was contacted by UK Sport on the February 14th informing them that MacLeod had failed the test - with the player opting to attend an independent judicial hearing.

A statement from the committee read: "The Judicial Committee found that the player had committed an unintentional anti-doping violation viz the presence in a sample of urine taken during out-of-competition testing of a Beta2-Agonist, Terbutaline, without the required Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE).

"The Committee accepted that the absence of the required TUE was entirely inadvertent since the player had a valid subsisting TUE for Salbutamol and that as a chronic sufferer of severe asthma the use of Terbutaline in substitution for Salbutamol was not intended to enhance performance.

"The TUE for Salbutamol given by the player in April 2006 could have included for Terbutaline and the omission of that drug at that time was occasioned only by a temporary absence of supply by manufacturers. In the circumstances the player was administered the minimum sanction of a warning and a reprimand."

MacLeod has accepted the reprimand and admitted his failure to understand there was different types of asthma medication had been his downfall.

"I was pretty unaware of the different types of asthma medication but this experience has been a bit of a wake-up call," he said.

"I'm not a cheat and I'm pleased that the panel accepted that I'd used Terbutaline inadvertently and that there had been no intention to enhance sports performance.

"Hopefully other players will be a bit more savvy given what's happened to me. I want to put this behind me now and concentrate on the job in hand with the national team."