This newspaper is hopeful that Miss Shelly Ann Fraser will not be made to pay too harsh a penalty, having tested positive for a painkiller she neglected to declare.

We are hopeful because the prohibited substance Oxycodone for which Miss Fraser tested positive at the May 23 Shanghai Diamond League is neither a performance enhancing substance nor a masking agent.

In fact, it seems that the substance described in the July 9 edition of the Observer as “a narcotic in the same vein as morphine” is much more likely to have slowed down the athlete.

Miss Fraser, who is the reigning Olympic and World Champion over the women’s 100 metres, actually ran a relatively slow 11.29 seconds in placing second at the Shanghai meet.

That aspect though, is not so much a concern of this newspaper. Like all well-thinking Jamaicans, we are much more bothered that Miss Fraser ingested the banned substance in the first place.

The circumstances as related in media reports are extremely disquieting. We are told that Miss Fraser underwent a dental procedure in Jamaica for which she was prescribed painkillers before travelling to China.

However, the toothache remained and Miss Fraser resorted to the Oxycodone without apparently recognising the dangers, and worse, forgot to declare her use of the drug to meet organisers.

We note news reports that Miss Fraser received the offending drug from her own coaching staff at the MVP track club. Since we have seen or heard no reports of a denial, we are left to assume that those reports are true. That makes the entire episode downright frightening. For surely in such a situation, Miss Fraser should have had a right to expect that her handlers made the relevant checks.

IAAF spokesman, Mr Nick Davies, is reported in a wire service news story as saying he was disappointed with Miss Fraser’s “carelessness”.

“Athletes must pay more attention to what they ingest as our rules are clear,” Mr Davies is reported as saying.

We would suggest though that those responsible for giving her the painkiller were doubly careless.

The entire episode reeks of slackness and the absence of a systematic approach. The situation is particularly reprehensible because Jamaica’s track programme is constantly under the microscope after its extraordinary success over recent years.

Not just the MVP, but all those responsible for the management of Jamaican sportsmen and women had better take stock and seek to tighten their modus operandi.

We would hate to see the day when our athletes are regarded as money-making machines to be made to perform at every opportunity, at the risk of destroying their careers and future prospects.