The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Board of Directors has voted to focus its efforts in 2016 on unifying the racing industry behind efforts to strengthen integrity efforts and possibly a central rule making process in the United States to achieve uniform medication policies and consistent implementation.

“The political divide that currently exists in the racing industry is destructive to the sport,” said current ARCI Chairman Mark Lamberth. “Significant progress has been made and continues to be made on a variety of fronts to implement agreed upon reforms.”

He noted that the ARCI Compliance Committee formed earlier this year has identified the issues in specific jurisdictions that have been an obstacle to achieving uniformity.

“We believe it is time to take a holistic approach to these issues and develop a consensus on how to achieve this,” added ARCI President Ed Martin, who noted that current legislative proposals being put forth were formulated without a regulator or industry consensus