Electronic Sports League Outlines New Anti-Doping Policy

Three weeks ago, the ESL (Electronic Sports League) announced that it would be cracking down on performance enhancing drugs--an announcement we discussed on that week's Beastcast. This decision came on the heels of an interview with a prominent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitor who admitted that he, his team, and many other tournament players, used Adderall to enhance their skills. While the ESL's initial announcement laid out the league's reasons for increased enforcement and their general philosophy, specifics were lacking. Until now.

Anna Rozwandowicz, the ESL's head of communications, outlined the particulars of their new policy in a post on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive subreddit last night. Here's a breakdown of the big points:

• Testing will begin at ESL One Cologne, the largest CS:GO tournament in the world.
• For this event, testing will be randomized. But the ESL notes that it does not "want to exclude the possibility of performing a larger number of tests among all/majority of players at a later stage." So we'll see how this shakes out.
• The ESL will be using the same list of prohibited substances that the World Anti-Doping Association and the National Anti-Doping Association (of Germany) use, available here. It's a fairly comprehensive list, banning a wide swath of stuff, including human growth hormone, anabolic steroids, and (most relevant to eSports) stimulants like phenethylamine, which is found in Adderall.
• There is one stand out on that list: "CANNABINOIDS." Yeah, weed is prohibited as a performance enhancing drug. But the ESL clarifies that "recreational use of it outside (before) the event days will not be punished."
• Part of the reason that the ESL can make that claim is that they'll be using saliva testing, which apparently only shows signs of marijuana for 12-24 hours after use. Huh!
• A major sticking point for in the conversation around eSports drug testing was the question of players with prescriptions for their medical stimulants. According to this announcement, those players will continue to be able to use that medication so long as they disclose that information "no later than the first match is scheduled to start," and provide proof (like a letter from their physician.)"
• If a player tests positive, there's a range of possible punishments available to levy against them: point and prize money deductions, disqualification, and even a two years ban from the ESL.

I definitely understand why eSports organizations like the ESL need to get some sort of anti-doping policy in place. Regardless of your own position on drug use and performance enhancement, the fact is that for eSports to continue to grow, it needs to sell itself to broader audiences and to present itself as legitimate and above board. As prize pools get bigger and bigger, so does the risk of outrage at a potential doping scandal. If you're the ESL, you'd hate for a potential fan to find out about eSports from a headline damning the organization's lack of drug regulations.

But part of me is a little skeptical. When the prize pools are this big, there's a lot of incentive to find loopholes in a policy like this. I'm especially curious about the ESL is prepared to determine the "legitimacy" of a player's prescriptions. It's a real minefield, but it's one that eSports has to cross sooner than later.

Much like baseball, prepare to see the the amount of ADHD diagnosed competitors rise sharply.

Too true.

@gingeros27: I had the same thought. Going to be a lot of prescriptions written up in the near future.

I wonder if this means that the ESL needs a fleet of physicians to administer these tests and ensure that they are above reproach. I have no idea if a regular employee could practically or legally administer a drug test. That seems like a huge new overhead.

I just hope the ESL treats drug violations like the NFL does: report that a player violated the performance enhancing substance policy, but don't mention what drug was found. That way we get a bunch of e-athletes claiming that they were busted for steroids or some other non-useful drugs just like every PED violation in the NFL is followed by a player claiming that they were busted for prescription Adderall.

In the US at least its pretty easy to get a prescription for ADD medicine which makes this seem like a move done to save face rather than to level the playing field.

Also the decision to ban weed during the event seems weird since that would be more of a performance inhibitor than anything.

LOL! C'mon Austin, filing it under NARC... Really? At least file it under CS:GO too, haha!

This is probably the worst way to enforce anti-doping in esports they could've gone for. Instead of building a list relevant to esports, they use an antiquated list that includes physical enhancement such as steroids as well as the soon globally legal cannabis. I don't see this doing them or their players any favor.

Eh, the US has like 1 good CSGO team anyway. And I guess that's 1 less 1 after this.

The milk in the fridge is about to go bad...

And there it goes.

@thatpinguino: Saliva tests are basically idiot proof. I was given a saliva test by a hiring manager at a Safeway once. Any other kind of drug test you would need a lab technician to process the results I'm sure, but saliva tests can be given by just about anyone.

hahaha, fucking man I love King of the Hill

This is your brain on eSports.

Fine, fine. Since you asked nicely.

Shortly after rules went in place forbidding use of stimulants in triathlons, over 33% of competitors were diagnosed with asthma and allowed to use stimulant inhalers during the race (mostly on the bike segment).

Who would have thought that such a high percentage of the most fit athletes in the world had sub-par respiratory systems?

And then people realize how easy it is to get a valid Adderol prescription.

No steroids or HGH? How am I supposed to get Global Elite and swole at the same time now?

Roid rage at The International might make me watch.

eSports needs a Scott Steiner figure.

"Quick, lets get these Chinese kids some wrestling promos!"

loling in real life.

Fuckin' dopers.

How the hell would weed be considered a "performance enhancing" drug?

That is is good to hear.

If you win this match you'll get unlimited Doritos and Mountain Dew

Dan and Drew missed their chance. :(

@grapesoda: Usually weed is banned not for its performance enhancing qualities, but for marketing purposes, or because its illegal. People look down on it, therefore it's bad press if a sport's competitors use it.

I wonder how many of em are slamming caffeine pills, though.

This is nothing more than a publicity ploy. There are plenty of much more pressing issues that they could be dealing with (underage gambling being by far the biggest one), but they do this because Semphis made some throwaway comment in an interview.

Additionally, the players were not consulted at all in the making of this policy and were left in the dark about it until last night when everyone else found out. 1 week of heads up for this kind of thing is ridiculous (the major starts next Thursday). I know that C9 (the best American team) was leaving for Germany today. So if they needed to see a doctor to get a note about a medicine they were taking, they were SOL.

And, as other people have mentioned, just using a pre-existing list of drugs is fucking dumb. Who cares if they players are taking steroids or smoking weed? Worth noting that smoking weed isn't illegal in Germany (where the event next week is taking place).

I feel like there's been a pretty harsh backlash against ESL in the past few weeks by the CS community for being run by a bunch of idiots and this doesn't help their cause.

How is one not suppose to drop LSD when looking at Dota team fights spell effects, pumping techno, and listening to Europeans talking.

We already got the Adderall overdose with God, I guess that's close enough.

I require Adderal to function normally throughout the day. It's something I wish I didn't have to contend with, but with all this recent 'fluff' over the use of it in E-Sports, I always had one question: Does it really make that much of a difference?

I think it's easy to take people's stances on it's effectiveness a bit too far and go down the rabbit-hole-belief that it's some sort of wonder drug. However, maybe due to my mental deficiency that requires me to use it, I may not truly understand it's impact on maybe someone who doesn't?

@kind2u: Probably has something to with your mental state to begin with, deficiency is strong vocabulary to use because your brain was wired a little bit differently duder. I know a guy's who's friend has tried it and popped it occasionally and yeah it's a bit like coke and you feel super focused and interested in whatever people say.

Also boo!

If I'm gonna sit around and watch other people, née I say kids, play a video game better than me I want to see them really play it better than me.

I know why they have to get in front of this thing before it gets even weirder, but when the prescriptions start flying through and a majority of these teams are gonna have one or two pros with ADHD it's another issue they just sweeped under the rug to claim they addressed it as best as they could.

@kind2u: No, it doesn't make that much of a difference, but if we're talking strictly about I game performance then it depends on the game. The main way it's used outside of tournaments is to play for longer periods of time without losing focus. In competition it enhances reflexes slightly, so in the case of CS or arena shooters it's purely advantageous. See an enemy, shoot them before they shoot you. Whereas in games like Starcraft and MoBAs, something like a beta blocker would be probably be more advantageous to most players, because reacting first isn't always the best option. But everyone had only ever heard about adderall, so that's the one that gets the most coverage. Maybe they don't want want any other drugs to become more prevalent and that's why they're not mentioned by name, but this seems like a move to save face.

Austin, just a heads up, small typo in the second to last bullet point (a bracket is matched with a quote mark).

I got worried when it said weed was prohibited but then it's actually not. Phew.

(Sweden) Like 11 years ago in time for a Counter-Strike LAN I remember one participant asking if he could partake in what was slang for salvia (the one that gives great tripreports) on the scene, despite it not giving the effect that would help your playing ability. He was just a forest-junkie I guess, but the CS culture quickly that went toward kids using sketchy sites to order "games" shrinkwrapped online, that instead of a CD or DVD inside had synthethic cannabinoids in them. It got worse and worse, kids got into harder stuff, deaths from taking one drop too many of "NAH I SWEAR THIS MAKES ME BETTER" because they didn't feel the effect on time still happen.

The ones who stuck with caffeine would drink dangerous amounts of energy drinks even at home, often combined with freaking coffee. Internal organs ended up damaged, not to mention their young still developing brains. They'd take caffeine tabs and gels and quickly moved onto that ritalin and adderal shit. You could find sketchy-site forum threads asking how to fake ADHD and other things so that they could get this or that prescribed. The seniors on that forum wondered what ingredient was the secret high. Nope, the brat just wanted to game better.

These anti-doping rules took too long. If you have a disease and the cure is pills, prove it and go ahead. If you're clean, stop ruining your body and brain.

- Somejerk, professional Counter-Strike player until 1.00 came out

State-dependent memory would lead to players who regularly play while high to perform better under similar conditions. Some argue that playing while high reduces performance anxiety and improves focus. This would obviously depend on the individual.

Even then, I would think it's a bit of a stretch. I'm just glad they're doing saliva testing and not testing that would stretch back 30+ days.

Suckers don't know about my emotion-suppressant nanomachines. ESL Championships, here I come.

and the over diagnosed ADHD will become even more over diagnosed.

@gingeros27: Precisely. In the end this will amount to nothing.

I was prepared to be angry about testing for weed, but I'm glad they clarified.

Weed will help people who suffer from the jitters a great deal. If nerves make you perform worse under pressure, weed or some other drug with a calming effect will help a lot. It's also good for "getting into the groove." Or so I've heard. However, reflexes do suffer a bit, and there can be a smidge of confusion and memory issues in games where a longer term strategy is important. Running into a "uh.. what the fuck was I actually doing again..." mid match is probably not the best.

Adderall, though, there is no doubt there. Amphetamines have been given to soldiers since the dawn of Amphetamines because they are really really effective, especially at keeping people going. Fifth match of the day would benefit hugely from stims.

@jayc4life: You're not wrong.

Absolute joke of a league. Not only do they want to enforce unenforcable drug tests, they want to do it with the least effective drug test on the market. (probably because they're cheapskates)

@thatpinguino: This was brilliant. Would love to see a guy like Sneaky fail a drug test and proudly claim that he was on steroids. :D

Saliva tests are effective in testing what you've ingested in the last 72 hours. Something like THC can show up in Urine up to a month later, whereas with an oral fluid swab it's only going to detect if you're high right now or done something in the last couple days.

But it's also incredibly easy to beat, cheat, or falsify a Saliva test, and they've been known to throw false positives. Over-the-counter Cold remedies, Allergy decongestants, and Diet Pills can show up as Amphetamines.

I'm interested to see what type of testing WADA does for events in North America, and if they treat esports like they do cycling and the UFC. Like, are they going to come to a player's hotel room at 4am and wake them up and make them piss?

Kinda already had that situation at least once in tennis. Sesil Karatancheva. Promising Bulgarian 15 year old who managed to charge her way deep into Roland Garros (this sentence isn't as dark as you think it is...) only for suspicious levels of testosterone to be found in her bloodstream. Her excuse? "Oh, I had a miscarriage." Which given her age felt somehow worse. Landed a 2 year ban and hasn't been the same player since.

If they're not going to do CIR testing on the weed metabolites via urine what's the point of testing for it. I doubt they're doing blood tests.

People actually takes drugs to help their concentrations and alertness that are illegal. This isn't as silly as it sounds.

I thought the steroids in those things barely registered?