USAPL And Out Of Meet Drug Testing

There are a number of threads at the APF Outlaws forum examining the USAPL's out of meet drug testing policy. They are here, here, here and here. The anti-USAPL and out of meet testing position:

in the USAPL this guy can come to your house and test you or at a meet that is not his.Get Fucking real you "Drug Free" guys are being ran like this guy is your dad.There seems to me to be more bullshit in that federation than in any other.You the lifters need to take a little control and tell him to relax.I'll be damned if I wanted to lift in the USAPL a person could come to my door or see me on the street and test me.What are you'll on fucking probation?

The pro-USAPL testing position by USAPL, and occassional APF lifter, Jason Burnell:

Here's the difference. Most of us that are USAPL members WANT DRUG TESTING. It's a DRUG TESTED FEDERATION for DRUG FREE lifters. We WANT the cheaters found and caught. That's what we wanted when we signed up. That's WHY we signed up. We wanted a place to lift with other drug free lifters. Anyone that lifts in a USAPL meet while on steroids is a cheating piece of shit. So, when we sign up, what we are saying is that WE WANT out of meet testing. We do not want cheaters to be able to duck tests and hide or just clean up in time for a meet. We sign up for that because we know there are lying, cheating pieces of shit out there. Fuck em. We are not "being run" by the drug testers. They are testing because we WANTED them to test.

Why out of meet testing is necessary:

If you do 98% fo your drug testing at meets it is just about worthless. So if you want a drug free org, or as close to it as humanly possible, you are going to need to do all of your testing out of meet for the most part. I will say it again, if you know when you are going to be tested it makes the test pretty unreliable.

I am not defending someone but their is no way to screen somenoe for drugs by testing them the day off the meet... No other sport has announced tests, becuase it doesn't work. From what it sounds like the USAPL should be testing alot of people outside the meet, not just a couple.

More criticism of out of meet testing:

Now as for the USAPL and any other org who police the memebers and "Invade" them even at home, simply because they "suspect" them to be users. Then you and anyone else who think (its really not thinking , its being brain washed) its OK then you need your heads examined!

Burnell's responses citing full lifter knowledge and understanding of testing before becoming a member:

if somebody doesn't want to be told what to do, then they won't join that organization. If somebody wants to be drug free and compete in a federation that is trying to keep an even playing field for the drug free guys, then that person will probably "choose" to go USAPL. It's not that big of a deal.

When a lifter joins USAPL they sign a statement that they are drug free. At every meet, lifters again sign a statement that they are drug free and haven't taken "stuff" for a given amount of time... As you can see, the lifter not only agrees that he is drug free but that he agrees to be tested. Bottom line is this, USAPL is a federation for drug free lifters. Anyone taking drugs and lifting in USAPL is a cheater. Is it a witch hunt? Hell no. Each and every one of us knows that there are unethical cheaters out there... So, the rest have to be weeded out. We all know they are out there. Some poeple who post here have said that people have bragged about beating a test. So, we do OMTs and that means whenever you can find them. Someone who will lie on the application and lie on the entry will probably not show up for a test if they have a warning.