Now even Iditarod dog racers (a.ka. mushers) will be subject to drug testing. Three-time champ Lance Mackey - a throat cancer survivor who smokes marijuana - appears to be the target of the new regs.

"It's a dog race, not a human race," he says about the 10-day, 1,100-mile Alaskan competition. "It isn't the reason I've won three years in a row."

Mackey, however, does admit that pot helps him stay awake and focused during the arduous trek.

"I think it's a little bit ridiculous," maintains Mackey, who lives near Fairbanks. "The Alaska lifestyle [is] you can do just about anything you want if you're not bothering anybody. You have a little more freedom in this state and smoking pot is kind of a common thing here in Alaska."

He believes that non-puffing rival mushers are behind the drug ban: "People are just jealous of what I've accomplished."

Mackey has won the last three Idatirods and four Yukon Quest races, and will be inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 along with his father Dick, also an Iditarod champ.

"If I don't smoke all the way to Nome, I'll do as good or maybe even better," Mackey promises about the next Iditarod, which begins on Mar. 6 in Anchorage.


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