Horse's on Drugs

                       On June 17, 2015, officials at Louisiana's Delta Downs suspended horse trainer, Alvin Smith Jr., for sixth months, after his horse, Dashin Forward, tested positive for dermophin. The drug is secreted from the South American "Waxy Monkey Tree Frog," and has recently shown in the bloodstream of thirty race horses in the United States. 

                     Dermophin acts as a painkiller forty times more powerful than morphine.  The affects of this "frog juice" blocks the pain of any type of injury to a horse, while directly stimulating running, suppressing pain, and surpressing exhaustion. The beauty of Dermophin was how "undetectable" it was. Now, a highly sensitive and specific confirmatory test for Dermorphin has been developed and has caught many horse trainers for cheating. Dr. Steven A. Barker at the Louisiana State University commented on the Horse Racing scandal saying, "this drug in horses is an abuse of the horse. It puts the horse’s life in danger. It puts the jockey’s life in danger. This is an attempt to cheat. This is bad stuff. This is doping." Dermophin is a class I drug, and is a serious drug violation in the industry, which will presumably result in significant penalties for those individuals caught using the substance to enhance their horse's performance. This isn't the first time the Horse Racing industry has faced drug scandals. Up until the 80's, horse trainers were known to misuse morphine as well. The president of Racing Commisioners International, Edward J. Martin claims this battle with stimulates and substances will forever be ongoing because the sport is a "cat-and-mouse game, as soon as you call out dermorphin, they will try something else." Now we must ask ourselves what's next for Horse Racing? What new drug or stimulate is going to be used to cheat?

Sources:

http://www.newser.com/story/148462/horse-racings-new-scandal-frog-juice.html?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange_article

http://www.livescience.com/21064-frog-juice-racehorse-drugs.html