We’ve learned (via Motherboard) that the Electronic Sports League is going to require mandatory drug tests for its competitors.
The news comes in the wake of a professional Counter Strike: Global Offensive player Cory “Semphis” Friesen admitting that both himself and members of his team used Adderall during an ESL tournament.
There will be randomized performance enhancing drugs skin tests implemented at the ESL. While the ESL One Cologne tournament will be one of the first to see these tests, there are more planned at every event in the IEM, ESL One, and the ESL ESEA Pro League competitions.
Adderall is a drug that is legally used to treat ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), however it was used in the tournament to supposedly improve their reaction time and focus. According to Motherboard, Semphis is not going to be punished, as the ESL “can’t punish someone if we are not 100 percent sure he is guilty.”
A press release from the ESL states the organization has partnered with NADA (Nationale Anti Doping Agentur) in Germany to help “research and determine an anti-performance enhancing drugs policy that is fair, feasible and respects the privacy of the players, whilst simultaneously providing conclusive testing results.”
Lastly, the ESL will also be partnering with the World Anti Doping Agency in order enforce this new policy across the globe, to the United States, Asia, and Australia.