Thursday marked the beginning of Week 6 of the CFL's derailed drug-testing program.

So what's taking the league so long to find a new collection agency and lab?

The very policy that's been under fire for the last two months.

The Winnipeg Sun has learned the CFL has made inquiries, through a sample collection agency, to at least one of the two U.S.-based labs accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

But the lab reacted the same way the only Canadian-based lab reacted last month: by saying it couldn't work with a league whose doping policy was so lax.

Among the issues: the lack of a meaningful penalty for first-time drug cheats.

The CFL's policy lags behind every other major professional sports league in North America in that players caught doping for the first time receive no suspension and aren't named.

Dr. Daniel Eichner, head of the WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Salt Lake City, wouldn't confirm the league has been in contact with his lab, which has the WADA stamp of approval (the other is in Los Angeles).

But he sees why the CFL might be having trouble finding a drug testing partner as reputable as the one it broke ties with, in the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport.

“There is no chance that SMRTL would ever engage in a testing program where there was no punishment for a first-time offence,” Eichner said of his lab, Thursday. “There is no WADA-approved laboratory around the world that could in good conscience take on a program like this. In its current state.”

The CFL cut ties with the CCES, effectively suspending its drug-testing program, June 11.

Commissioner Jeffrey Orridge has said the league is in talks with reputable agencies in trying to fill the gap.

But it may need an overhauled policy in hand, first.

The CFL and its players union have begun talks on strengthening the program, created in 2010, but those talks have only recently become formal.

“As is always the case in our discussions with our players union, the process and substance of those talks will remain confidential until they have concluded,” league spokesman Paulo Senra said, via e-mail.

Among the items up for discussion are the penalties for first-time offenders.

But there remains a reluctance in the rank-and-file to come down too hard.

“We're a group of brothers,” Winnipeg Blue Bombers player rep Greg Peach said. “We're playing against each other, but we're all doing the same thing for the same goal. So it's big for us to make sure we're able to help these players, first. Instead of, a guy made a mistake and beating him down for it.”

Experts like Eichner, though, say that approach misses the mark.

“If you have a first offence for a steroid, a performance-enhancing drug, that's not an accident,” Eichner said. “That's someone taking a conscious effort to defy the rules and cheat. If you have an instance where someone tested positive for something that may have been inadvertent, then obviously you can have a lesser sanction if the circumstances line up for that.

“I get the fact they have the CBA to deal with. But this is something the athletes have got to support as well, if they want to have any legitimacy in this.”

The NFL suspends first-time offenders for four games.

The CFL could choose to be at the forefront of the fight against doping by going further.

“I couldn't agree more,” Eichner said. “If these guys need help, there's people there to help them. We couldn't do their program right now, but we could definitely work with them to beef up their program.”

If the league doesn't get tough enough, it'll have to settle for a second-rate partner.

“It's something that definitely needs to be taken more seriously,” offensive lineman Pat Neufeld, Winnipeg's alternate player rep, said. “As a league we have to make sure we give that right image, that it's something that isn't condoned and something we don't promote.”

Meanwhile, players know there's been no chance of being tested for the last five weeks, and counting.

One recently raised concerns some will take advantage of the gap and look for substances that provide a quick “boost,” while leaving the players' systems faster than steroids.

“It's a little troubling,” Neufeld said of the lapse in testing. “At the same time you've got to trust that players are doing the right thing and being professionals. You just hope they're doing the right thing. There hasn't been testing, so accountability has to be on the player.”