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MotoGP, Iannone: “Incredulous! Cocaine is ok and they sentence an innocent person for 4 years.”

Andrea’s reaction to the new WADA policy on sanctions regarding the use of drugs by athletes. Flexibility that clashes with the severity shown in his case.

MotoGP: Iannone: “Incredulous! Cocaine is ok and they sentence an innocent person for 4 years.”

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Andrea Iannone has not at all come to terms with  the latest provisions of the WADA regarding the use of drugs, such as cocaine, cannabis, Ecstay, or heroin by athletes. According to the latest provisions, the position of an athlete who tested positive outside of an event would be much less serious than in the past.

For example, if a soccer player were found positive for cocaine during an event, such as a soccer world cup, the penalty would obviously be as high as before, so the four-year disqualification would remain the reference point. But the situation has greatly changed with regard to this situation away from sporting events, where the same athlete tests positive for one of the listed substances.

In this case, the use of these substances is considered associated with a psychological problem and, therefore, with an addiction and an illness to be treated, and not with the desire to alter one’s performance in sports.  This could lead ot a reduction of  the penalty to just three months of disqualification, which could even drop to just one month if the disqualified athlete accepts to participate in a rehab program.

So the line between lawful and illegal becomes very thin because while, on one hand, the WADA has chosen this path to help athletes save themselves from being destroyed by an addiction, on the other, it opens the door to the risk that the same athletes may even do worse than in the past.

A vicious circle that deeply clashes with the disqualification inflicted on Andrea Iannone who, despite having been found innocent and having demonstrated with scientific evidence that he had not taken any illicit substance, and it was food contamination, he received a very severe four-year disqualification. It’s difficult not to think that there are two dangerously different sets of standards  in this specific situation, and it’s obviously really difficult for Iannone to come to terms with this umpteenth hoax, which only increases all the perplexities about a disqualification that appears increasingly unjust.

Iannone wrote just one simple commenton on his social media channels, which points out the absurdity of the situation:

More and more incredulous! Positive to cocaine, all okay, while the innocent are sentenced to four years! Thanks a lot.

 

Translated by Leila Myftija

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