Do you believe Shawnacy Barber's Craigslist cocaine story?

A lot of people, including myself, went home last night to friends, family members, loved ones, and told them the unbelievable story of the 22-year-old who made headlines across all of North America. Most of us received the same response:

Impossible.

Unlike some, I do believe that a world champion athlete resorted to Craigslist for a casual encounter. I met my wife on the internet. It wasn't Craigslist's casual encounters, but it was the internet. Happily married for six months now.

I believe that the day before the Canadian Championships, Barber didn't want to leave his hotel. He didn't want to drink alcohol, and he didn't want to risk disease for his sexual tryst the night before he punched his ticket to the Rio Olympics. 

He wanted a professional. I get it. We've all been there before. 

As weird and as seedy as it is, I believe the woman's boyfriend, friend who happened to be a boy, whatever--just happened to hang around to make sure everything was kosher. That's what friends are for.

I can believe all of this.

I want to believe Barber when he says, "I didn't know she was doing cocaine/I didn't do cocaine/we made out for 30 minutes and that must be how the cocaine got into my urine." But this is where it was much harder to defend him at the dinner table with my wife, whose new favorite word all of a sudden was:

Impossible.

I wanted to believe his story.



BACKSTORY: Inika McPherson actually snorted cocaine, admitted to it, and served a 21-month ban.

Damnit Shawnacy, you're making this really hard.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who spoke to Dr. David Juurlink, head of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, it's not impossible that Barber stumbled upon cocaine in his system via saliva.

It's not impossible!

"But it is improbable."

That's basically the nicer version of what my wife said.

"There's a minimum amount you need to be exposed to," Juurlink said. "It's very difficult to imagine a scenario in which the exchange of saliva through kissing transfers from one person to another a sufficient amount of cocaine to result in a positive urine test."

Yeah, but they basically kissed for like 30 minutes straight. How could it NOT make its way to his urine. 

"To detect a drug in urine, one has to be exposed to a sufficient amount of it, and it has to be excreted by the kidneys," Juurlink explained.

Well, yeah, it sounds like this woman took a lot of cocaine that Barber had no idea about. 

"I can't say it's impossible, but it sounds extraordinarily improbable to me," Juurlink explained.

Sounds like I am right, and my wife is wrong.

Winners and losers aside.

I believe you Shawnacy Barber.

I believe you when you tell me that a lot of cocaine ended up in your urine ONLY because you made out with a woman for longer than an episode of "Friends." And I believe you when you say the woman, who you just met on Craigslist the day before you were about to make your first Olympic team, showed up to your hotel room with a strange man, a bottle of vodka, and a Tylenol container full of cocaine.

I believe you.