The ASP's board meeting in San Francisco earlier this week

According to one source, while the official drug testing process takes about a year to be officially implemented through the World Anti Doping Agency , the goal is to start doing it in house at the Quik Pro Snapper Rocks in March 2012. The testing will be for both recreational drugs and performance enhancing drugs. Needless to say, some surfers in the past may have been more inclined towards the recreational than performance. (Neco Padaratz' 2005 disqualification from the ASP due to steroid use notwithstanding.)"The ASP is in the process of working out a drug testing policy that could be implemented as early as 2012," explained ASP's media manager Dave Prodan. "We expect the details to solidify over the next several days and an official statement to go out sometime next week."

"What I like about [drug testing] is that it shows the maturity of our sport." --Vans Triple Crown director Randy Rarick

According to one source, the idea was to get the word out to surfers now, so they have three months to make any lifestyle changes that may be necessary to stay on tour."Drug testing been discussed for over 30 years," points out Vans Triple Crown of Surfing director Randy Rarick. "Fred Hemmings wanted to do in in the '70s when he ran the IPS. I think it's been a long time coming. What I like about it is that is shows the maturity of our sport. Not to take anything away from surfing as a lifestyle, but if you're a professional athlete, you should act like one."The hefty, ultra-dense 40-page document detailing the goals of drug testing was difficult to digest for many present in the meetings, but the board of directors will work on simplifying it in the coming weeks. Many policies will of course need to be worked out, but it's clear that there are different grades/levels of drugs that will come with different degrees of punishment. For example: having pot in one's system may come with a lighter penalty than cocaine. Counseling will also be a key component.We just caught up with Vans' Doug Palladini, who was instrumental in getting the SIMA letter to the ASP."The SIMA letter was composed prior to the recent ASP Board meeting in SF, as a result of several months of discussions among SIMA members, member athletes, and event license holders," he explained.We asked Palladini the reasoning behind it. "We felt it was not acceptable to remain silent on the drug testing issue, and so we offered to partner with the ASP to bring drug testing to the World Tour," he explained. "In addition to recommending their enforcement via testing, we offered our support in creating educational and safety net programs to round out the most impactful package possible in support of our top competing athletes."Clearly it was received well by the board. "Looks like it worked!" Palladini continued. "We have yet to see the details, but we applaud the ASP Board for agreeing to testing and look forward to doing our part to support its full implementation with the kick-off of the 2012 season."