Swapping spit: How much cocaine can actually be passed through kissing?
TORONTO — Is it possible to ingest cocaine by kissing someone who has just snorted the powerful stimulant drug? Enough that its chemical signature would show up on an athlete’s doping tests?
That’s reportedly what happened to Canadian pole vaulter Shawn Barber, who tested positive for trace amounts of cocaine after winning the Canadian title in Edmonton in early July.
Despite the result, the 22-year-old was allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics after the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) determined he had inadvertently absorbed the banned substance while kissing a woman he’d met for a sexual tryst the night before the national competition.
That raises the question of how someone could take in enough cocaine by locking lips that the drug’s chemical clues would show up in their urine.