Drug Policy

All Member Nations must apply the principle of nil notice or very short notice Out-of-Competition testing to athletes who are likely to participate in international competition. 

b) Selection of athletes for Out-of-Competition Testing will in general be up to the National 
Governing Body and will be on any criteria including the basis of suspicion. 

c) Target Testing: The WDFPF through its Officers reserves the right to select a candidate for 
drug testing from any Member Nation.  Any member who suspects that a lifter in another country is abusing drugs may notify the President who will notify the Executive Committee.  The General Secretary will notify the national body concerned who may be required to organize a 
drug test on the suspect, if it is felt by the Executive Committee that the complaint is 
reasonable. 

d) Drug testing will be mandatory at all International Championships.  Where possible a 
minimum of 20% of competitors will be sampled - with a minimum of 10% of competitors being actually tested (Amd. 1990 AGM).  The cost of the minimum amount of testing required is 
to be borne by the host national with the cost of any additional tests felt necessary to be borne by 
the WDFPF. 

e) It must be possible for WDFPF Officials and/or other WDFPF accepted drug control agencies, to "Target Test" where it is felt necessary, any lifter at WDFPF Sanctioned events and any National Championships where records are to be claimed.  An element of random selection may be applied if felt necessary.  When the targeting of lifters is done, the selection may be based on any or all of the following criteria: calibre of performance; performance improvement; behavior; appearance; rumor or hearsay.  For this reason the WDFPF requires every member National body to apply membership affiliation procedures which include competitors' signatures of assent to and support for, all WDFPF rules on doping control. 

f) Testing of samples from International Championships will be done at laboratories accredited by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  If a situation arises whereby a country or countries cannot obtain the services of an accredited IOC Laboratory, other laboratories may be accepted subject to agreement by a majority of the other Member Nations (Amd. 1990 AGM). 

g) The Drug-Free period, from 1991 onwards, will be five (5) years. 

h) Banned Substances.  The WDFPF will use the IOC List of Banned Substances as a guideline but reserves the right to add to this list any drug which it may feel could be performance enhancing.  Similarly, the WDFPF reserves the right to delete from this IOC list, any substance it may feel is irrelevant to Powerlifting performance (Amd. 1988 AGM). 

i) Drug testing methods will be left to individual Member Nations for their own internal affairs.  (This is to facilitate any use of the polygraph and other testing methods by certain nations, in addition to the mandatory urinalysis required under WDFPF rules.) 

j) Each Member Nation must provide evidence of regular Out-of-Competition Drug Testing (OCT) and present annually to the AGM the Chain of Custody documentation with the laboratory reports of all athletes tested since the previous World Congress.  Any nation not complying with this rule will be immediately suspended from WDFPF involvement until compliance (Amd. 1991 AGM).  The Chain of Custody documentation with laboratory results of individual Out of Competition Tests must be mailed to the General Secretary as and when received (1993 AGM). The results will be recorded and passed on to all International Liaison Officers. 

k) Sanctions.  Positive drug test results or refusal of testing in WDFPF Sanctioned or Nationally Sanctioned competition or refusal of Out-of-Competition Testing, will result in a life-time ban from further WDFPF Competition as well as retrospective loss of all WDFPF titles and records.  The lifetime ban refers to the natural life of the subject. 

l) Anyone convicted of the sale, use, or smuggling of illegal erogenic drugs by a court of law, or who has been found to be positive on a drug test, may be considered ineligible for WDFPF Competition. 

m) The WDFPF regards Beta Blockers as acceptable medication.  Positive Ephedrine results will not necessarily be regarded as drug abuse carrying an automatic lifetime ban.  The World Committee will decide the penalty subject to the following criteria:

    1.    Up to 10 ppm will result in a warning. 
    2.    Over 10 ppm will result in a two year ban (and the removal of any title, placing and 
            records set, if the result of an In Competition Test). 
    3.    A second positive Ephedrine test will result in a lifetime ban from all WDFPF 
            involvement. 

n) Under exceptional circumstances, a positive test for any substance on the IOC Banned List, may not be regarded as drug abuse, subject to the World Committee's decision. 

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