The case against Vancouver naturopath Brandon Spletzer is the first to be officially resolved, after the airing of an Al Jazeera documentary in late December on sports doping.
A Vancouver naturopath implicated in a sports doping documentary has been lightly reprimanded by the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia.
The case against Brandon Spletzer is the first to be officially resolved, after the airing of an Al Jazeera documentary in late December on sports doping. Spletzer plays a relatively minor role. In one scene, he talks to an undercover reporter about evading the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). In another, Spletzer delivers the reporter peptides not authorized for human consumption. Peptides are prohibited by WADA. The documentary caught wide attention for scenes Spletzer was not in. Several prominent athletes, led by Peyton Manning, were named. The allegations of sports doping were denied and haven't been proven. Baseball players Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman sued Al Jazeera.
The reprimand against Spletzer by the College of Naturopathic Physicians of B.C. was a suspension of his practice for 10 days.
Other conditions included taking an ethics course and not working with athletes for one year. There was no fine.
The college, in a statement, said it imposes sanctions to protect public safety "that are commensurate with the seriousness of the misconduct."
Spletzer was found to have recommended, ordered and provided a patient with two peptides that are not authorized for sale in Canada and a third peptide that cannot be prescribed by naturopaths. The college, in its public notification of the reprimand, also said Spletzer had made statements to a patient that "could be interpreted as being willing to engage in disgraceful, dishonourable, or unprofessional conduct."
On Wednesday, in his first interview about the case, Spletzer said he never aimed to facilitate sports doping.
"I was not, and I never have been, intentionally involved in sports doping," Spletzer said.
He said he fully co-operated with the investigation and said the details of the reprimand indicate he wasn't what was portrayed in the Al Jazeera documentary.
"If I was deliberately going out and making a whole lot of money, like it was shown in the video, doping athletes all over the place, you'd think I would have been punished a little more heavy-handed," Spletzer said.
Spletzer said he was wrong to prescribe the peptides. He said he had checked whether he could prescribe them as a naturopath and erroneously believed he could. He said the undercover reporter, a former athlete, didn't present himself as aiming to compete. Spletzer added that he was wrong to talk about evading WADA.
"It's cut and pasted," Spletzer said of the documentary. "He [the undercover reporter] was asking a lot of questions, a lot of hypotheticals. I'll be the first to admit I said something I shouldn't have. I said that to my board, as well. It was a mistake on my part to say those things."
Naturopaths in British Columbia are part of a self-regulating health profession, one of 25. Ontario has about the same number. Naturopathic medicine has been regulated in British Columbia since 1936 and became a designated health profession in 2000. In 2009, British Columbia became the first province to allow naturopathic doctors to prescribe some medications. Ontario followed in 2015.
Spletzer is also licensed as a naturopath in Washington State, where an investigation is ongoing.
In the documentary, Spletzer works with Vancouver-area pharmacist Chad Robertson. An investigation of Robertson by the College of Pharmacists of B.C. is ongoing, according to Bob Nakagawa, the college's registrar.
Robertson remains a full pharmacist with no limits or conditions on his work, according to the college's website.
Robertson is heard saying in the documentary that he has doped people – "I can take a guy with average genetics and I can make him world champion" – and later is shown with the undercover reporter organizing the acquisition of substances banned in sports. The reporter was Liam Collins, a onetime British hurdler.
The documentary positioned Collins as an athlete looking for one last shot at the Olympics.
Spletzer said he had cut ties last year with Collins, when the idea of competing was raised.
"I'm not some big-wig player in all of this," Spletzer said. "I literally got blindsided."
Spletzer cited material from the college's investigation that noted his prescriptions for Collins were based on lab results and that the college acknowledged Collins was retired from competition and no longer tested by WADA.
Spletzer said he is working to rebuild his practice. He said he doesn't harbour bitterness toward Robertson, who referred Collins to him, but doesn't understand how an Al Jazeera documentary on sports doping landed at his office last year.
"I don't understand why I was targeted," he said. "I don't understand why I was even involved."