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Olympic Snowboarder Wanted for Drug Trafficking
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Olympic Snowboarder Wanted for Drug Trafficking

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ProCon Debates: Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Technologies Be Allowed in Sports?; Are the Olympic Games Worth the Cost to Their Host Countries and Cities?

ProCon Issue in the News: Ryan James Wedding was not accused of doping during his snowboarding career, but the Canadian Olympian is now on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for drug trafficking.

Wedding made the Canadian national snowboarding team at age 15. He competed in giant slalom snowboarding at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, placing 24th. He is accused of becoming involved in the drug trade shortly after his Olympic debut, dealing marijuana in Vancouver. He was later arrested by the FBI for arranging to buy cocaine from an undercover agent and was sentenced to four years in prison. Once released, he reportedly expanded his life of international crime.

According to Akil Davis, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, “Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada.” Wedding allegedly has connections to the Hells Angels and the Sinaloa cartel.

The FBI added Wedding to its most-wanted list on March 6, 2025, with the State Department asserting that he “headed a complex transnational organized crime organization which coordinated the procurement and transportation of cocaine from South America to Canada.” Wedding (called El Jefe, or “the boss”) is reportedly at the top of an organized crime syndicate that has been accused of at least four murders and trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine. Information that leads to Wedding’s arrest or conviction comes with hefty rewards: $10 million from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and $50,000 from the FBI.

Wedding’s drug-trafficking partner Andrew Clark was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and sent to the United States in February 2025.

Discussion Questions

  1. Some argue that at least small quantities of some drugs should be made legal, including marijuana, LSD, and cocaine. What do you think? Explain your answer.
  2. What are your thoughts on illicit drugs (such as cocaine or LSD) being used by athletes? Explain your answer.
  3. Although cocaine may not be an appropriate drug for athlete use, should performance-enhancing drugs and technologies be allowed in sports? Why or why not?

Sources

  • Jaclyn Diaz, “A Former Olympic Snowboarder Makes the FBI’s Most Wanted List” (March 7, 2025), npr.org
  • FBI Los Angeles, “Former Olympian Wanted for Running Transnational Drug Enterprise and Ordering Several Murders Added to FBI’s List of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” (March 6, 2025), fbi.gov
  • Jesse Hyde, “ ‘He Had No Fear’: Ryan Wedding’s Path from Olympic Athlete to Drug Lord” (January 4, 2025), rollingstone.com
  • U.S. Department of State, “Ryan James Wedding” (March 6, 2025), state.gov