SASKATOON – Canada may be the pipeline for illegal drugs used in American livestock shows, said the executive vice-president of the Canadian Western Agribition.
“We’ve been told the connection is the exhibitors that use it get their hands on it from contacts in Saskatchewan,” said Wayne Gamble of Regina. “We’re not lily white.”
The banned drug clenbuterol has been detected in livestock at American shows, but isn’t licensed for use in the United States.
In Canada it is licensed for treating horses, mainly as a remedy for heaves, a type of asthma.
Some American shows have disqualified exhibitors after detecting clenbuterol in the prize-winning animal. The drug can be found in the retina for up to 150 days after injections.
Gamble said many fair directors from large American livestock shows have told him the drugs are coming from Saskatchewan.
“That’s the noise they’re giving us,” said Gamble. “Some horses in Saskatchewan may be consuming half their weight in clenbuterol,” he said, referring to rumors of high drug sales compared to the low horse population in the province.
