Cricket: Drug does more harm than good

By PETER JESSUP

Doctors say there is no clear reason for Shane Warne to take a diuretic, that they do not cause permanent weight loss and that he put himself in danger by dehydrating during a game.

Warne's use of hydrochlorothiazide and amiloride were part of "fluid-reduction medication" he took in the five weeks after he injured his shoulder, Australian Cricket Board chief executive James Sutherland said.

But those substances, both on the IOC banned list as class A diuretics, do not reduce fluid build-up in specific areas such as an inflamed shoulder or knee. Rather, they cause general fluid loss.

There are two major reasons diuretics are banned: To prevent boxers, weightlifters and jockeys from shedding kilos dangerously to make starting weights; and to prevent their use as masking agents, because diuretics aid the flushing of the kidneys where trace elements of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs can linger.

The ACB drugs policy allows the use of some controlled medicines if written approval is given. Warne didn't have that.

The board's rules provide for a three-month ban for use of a prohibited substance and a two-year ban for use of a prohibited method.

The former would apply if Warne is found to have taken the diuretic for medical reasons, the latter if it were to mask other drug use.

It is not clear which clause the board will apply.

It also has a murky clause relating to "exceptional circumstances" in which an offender can basically be let off.

Auckland sports physicians told the Herald that use of diuretics would not be recommended procedure before a major sporting exertion (Warne played his comeback game on January 23, the day after the positive test was taken).

It would generally cause loss of potassium and other essential minerals, low blood pressure, dizziness and, in extreme heat, could cause fainting and serious internal organ damage.

Diuretics might help flush recreational drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine or cannabis from the body.

Testers in Sydney would not have been looking for those drugs - that is done only during international competition, unless specifically required by a national sports body.

The ICC announced last September that it would conduct drug tests at the World Cup for the first time. The South African team, like others, have since had to have the approval of the team doctor before taking any medicine or dietary product.

Graeme Steel of the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency said the chances of Warne's B sample proving negative were almost non-existent.

"In my view he's in big trouble," Steel said.

Back on the field, Pakistani supporters at the Wanderers ground yesterday chanted "Shane Warne, on a plane," every time a passenger aircraft flew over the ground.

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