Quinn Smith suspended for three games in first announced CFL positive drug test

The CFL has tested for performance-enhancing drugs since 2010 (although not continously; there were no tests last season thanks to a dispute with the testing lab), but before Friday, no violations of the league's policy by players in the league had ever been announced. (That doesn't mean there weren't any, as first positive tests were kept anonymous and only saw players receive counselling and increased monitoring under the old policy.) The league tightened its drug-testing policy, boosted its penalties and increased the numbers of tests in April, though, and now we're seeing the results; Friday saw the announcement of the first-ever CFL suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, a three-game suspension to Calgary Stampeders' defensive tackle Quinn Smith (who also tested positive for PEDs while a CFL prospect in 2014) for using the banned substance methandienone.

What is methandienone? As per Wikipedia, it's an anabolic steroid that "binds to and activates the androgen receptor in order to exert its effects. These include dramatic increases in protein synthesis, glycogenolysis, and muscle strength over a short space of time." It's used by some bodybuilders, but is a controlled substance in the U.S. and Western Europe, and it's on WADA's banned list. It's not clear how Smith took it, but "from a supplement" isn't a great excuse any more, considering that part of the new policy states "Each team in the CFL will provide appropriate National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) certified supplements to their players, with the list to be developed by mutual agreement, based on professional advice." If Smith had stuck to that list, he presumably would be fine. Also, he's apologized, but it's been noted how similar that apology is to his 2014 one:

It's interesting that Smith was the guy caught here, as that positive test from him at the CFL combine in 2014 is part of what led to this stricter policy. At that combine, Smith tested positive for stanozolol, the steroid Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson was infamously caught taking in 1988. However, this was before the draft and Smith was still a CIS player, so there was no CFL punishment for him, prompting plenty of discussion about if the league's policy was tough enough.

That discussion was further exacerbated when three other CFL prospects tested positive at a regional combine that year. It became an even bigger deal when five prospects tested positive at the CFL combine the next year, leading to the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport and the World Anti-Doping Agency suddenly deciding they hated the CFL policy (which had been the same since 2010, and was comparable to the NFL's penalties for prospects) and refusing to test samples until it was adapted. Thus, Smith's previous positive test played a role in changing the rules here.

At first glance, some would expect only a two-game penalty for Smith given this is his first violation in the CFL. Here's what the league release says about that:

That's interesting, as that was not part of the policy the CFL described to the public in April (which shows the issues with them posting a summary of a policy rather than the actual policy), but it makes some sense. A three-game suspension is equal to the punishment for a second offence under the old policy, and Smith was deemed to have committed a first offence (increased testing and counselling only) thanks to his pre-CFL violation. It's less severe than the nine games a second-time offender would get under the new policy, but it makes sense not to raise penalties to that level for guys who first tested positive outside the league. (In fact, the new policy of a year-long ban for prospects seems a bit harsh.)

In any regard, a three-game suspension sounds about right here. Hopefully Smith will learn from this and make sure he doesn't take any banned substances going forward. Even more importantly, perhaps the first announcement of a positive CFL test and actual punishment for it will serve as a deterrent for others and help to keep the game clean.