A review by the board of directors of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) of state-by-state adoption of the Association of Racing Commissioners International's National Uniform Medication Program shows the majority of major racing jurisdictions will have a substantial portion of the program's four principal components in place by year's end.

At its meeting Oct. 13 at Canterbury Park, in Shakopee, Minnesota, the board covered progress on the adoption of the National Uniform Medication Program's medication schedule, third-party furosemide (also known as Salix or Lasix) administration, laboratory accreditation, and the multiple medication violations penalty system. Due to regulatory and/or legislative requirements, timing for the adoption process varies, but significant portions of the program will have been adopted in all but five states, the RMTC board believes.

The following is an update provided by the RMTC.

While most state testing labs already have achieved at least International Organization for Standardization accreditation, and additional RMTC accreditation is steadily progressing, the RMTC addressed uniformity of processes and parameters throughout the states by approving a model Request for Proposals for Equine Drug Testing Laboratories