Roho claims he has never seen, touched, or smoked Marijuana
Russian sumo wrestler Roho and his brother Hakurozan continue to deny the accuracy of the urine tests that found they had smoked marijuana, and Roho (seen in the above video clip) has gone so far as to claim that he’s never even seen or touched the stuff:
Both wrestlers denied smoking marijuana. “I have never used or even touched the stuff,” Roho told reporters. “I want another test to be conducted at a hospital I can trust.”
His younger brother said he was confident that further tests would clear his name. “I don’t mind of they investigate me or test me,” Hakurozan said. “I’m confident that I definitely won’t test positive.”
It turns out that the Sumo Association used a simple 30-minute test that is not as accurate as more detailed testing methods, so there’s still a chance that other tests could find them innocent.
However, one has to wonder why Roho would make a dubious statement such as this:
“I don’t have any acquaintances who use marijuana,” he said.
Roho introduced fellow Russian Wakanoho to the sumo scene in Japan. Roho and Wakanoho are both from the Russian republic of North Ossetia, and they have known each other for many years. Wakanoho has been arrested for possession and marijuana, and it has been reported he told police that he also smoked marijuana when he lived in Russia. The closeness of the three sumo wrestlers before and after they came to Japan makes it very hard for the public to trust Roho’s denials.
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Ibuprofen (aka Motrin) – a widely-used anti-inflammatory and pain-killer available over-the-counter or by prescription – can often produce false positive results for THC (the active ingredient in marijuana). A kidney infection could do the same as handful of other perfectly legitimate reasons.
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I neither believe them nor think their marijuana use should matter.
I’d do the same as them, and continue to lie their asses off in the face of all evidence.
Works for everything else in Japan [and yes, America, and Russia and well... everywhere] so why not sumo?
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Youse are a plonker, Rob.
Honestly – why would a guy like that jeopardize himself.
Somebody must have slipped him a mickey in one of his meals.
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Why would someone slip him a mickey? That makes less sense than lying.
He most likely made a mistake, got caught and is now trying to save his sumo career. We’ve seen this pattern in pro-sports a million times – just look at Marion Jones from the US Track and Field Team. She lied about steroid use, ended up in jail and was forced to return all her medals – why would she jeopardize herself? The same reason Roho would, because she got caught doing something illegal.
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Yeah, ok, time to take of the tinfoil hat.
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After my earlier rant about the innacuracy of the tests, it turns out that they DID use a shitty test.
[See first article about this issue. To sum up, do the math, if the test false positive rate is the same as the actual drug use rate, then half of the "positive" results are wrong. This gets far worse if the actual drug use rate is lower than the rate of false positives.]
All tests give false positives. A positive test with no other evidence can’t be used to send someone to jail, can it? God, I hope not.
It seems almost impossible that ONLY 2 gaijin wrestlers had false positive results.
But in Japan, where anti-gaijin feelings in the sumo world and among the cops and media are definitely an issue, it seems VERY likely that plenty of Japanese rikishi also had false positives, but the cops or the media instantly assumed that a positive result for a Japanese rikishi MUST be wrong. “Only gaijin do drugs! Guilty! Guilty!”
I really hope the “better” results come back negative, and Roho and friends sue the cops and the media for libel.
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“But in Japan, where anti-gaijin feelings in the sumo world and among the cops and media are definitely an issue, it seems VERY likely that plenty of Japanese rikishi also had false positives, but the cops or the media instantly assumed that a positive result for a Japanese rikishi MUST be wrong. “Only gaijin do drugs! Guilty! Guilty!””
Gee, it sure is baseless accusations-fuled-by-racism around here.
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“Only gaijin do drugs! Guilty! Guilty!”
I think you have too much bias to Japanese media or people.
At least, I don’t hear any “Giajin is the root of evil !!” thing here.
The media is just reporting the fact,
even refering about the possiblity of mistake.
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They should do they “hair test” which can detect use from up to three years back. I don’t necessary agree with marijuana laws (Cannibus Control Law was part of McArthur’s 1948 Constitutional reform) but everyone knows teh rules in Japan. If you are a sumotori, you have to “toe the line” with extra care.
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Bill Cosby: “…nor have I ever smoked any marijuana … although I’ve inhaled it…”
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Yeah……. 2nd hand could do it, if you inhale enough of it in close proximity. True. But you’d have to suck in a whole sh_t load for that though!
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This means he still could have inhaled with his eyes closed and met those conditions.
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I agree with Rob. I can’t believe he didn’t use marijuana, but I can’t see that this is such a big deal either. And, not having met Roho, it is possible that someone could have planted the stuff on him.
I spent a long time in Japan, but I rarely heard anyone state that only non-Japanese used drugs. Most people tend to know about amphetamine use, and the obvious over-dependence on alcohol is so in-your-face that all can see the effects.
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What’s wrong with a sumo wrestler smoking the reefer? I can’t believe the sumo association tests for that. They should be testing for performance enhancers, everything else doesn’t affective the job.
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