Games chiefs stiffen anti-doping laws

Olympic chiefs yesterday stiffened laws against drug cheats for the Beijing Games, ruling that mere possession of any banned drug will now constitute a doping violation. Previously, only use of certain substances on the World Anti-Doping Association's...

Olympic chiefs yesterday stiffened laws against drug cheats for the Beijing Games, ruling that mere possession of any banned drug will now constitute a doping violation.

Previously, only use of certain substances on the World Anti-Doping Association's banned list constituted an offence, the IOC said yesterday. Now possession will constitute a violation.

"For all the substances on the prohibited list, possession is now a violation - including narcotics," the IOC's director of communications Giselle Davies said. "That is a hardening of the anti-doping regulations... a stiffening of the rules."

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