NSAC aims to toughen penalties for failed drug screens
In May Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill no. 498 into law, providing funding for out-of-competition testing through an…
In May Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill no. 498 into law, providing funding for out-of-competition testing through an adjustment in promoter taxes.
Presently promotions pay one dollar for each ticket sold for a sanctioned professional MMA or boxing event with gross receipts of over $500,000. Smaller events pay 50 cents for each ticket sold. In 2010 the UFC held six events in Nevada, drawing over 40,000 paid fans in total. Those sales resulted in Nevada earning $39,189.50 in fees. Starting July 1, these fees now help fund the testing program.
The commissioners now also aim to soon institute stiffer penalties for those failing screens.
“We are seeing an increasing amount of these diuretics,” commissioner Pat Lundvall said. “I think it is getting to be almost a problem.
“I’m trying to figure out a way by which we can ensure that fighters understand that this is something that is prohibited. It is for their own good, and this is not something that can be treated lightly.”
Commissioner Francisco Aguilar echoed Lundvall’s concerns. “I think going forward, we need to increase the penalties for fighters. I think this commission has given them proper notice at this point to say, ‘This is not going to be taken lightly anymore. This is a serious issue.'”
“My thought process is that it looks like the past three (hearings) that we’ve done, we’ve ranged between eight and nine months for the suspension,” Lundvall said. “That’s something that moving forward at this point in time, I’d like to give serious consideration to future suspensions being 12 months and the penalty would be up to 50 percent (of purse).”
