The hotline, recommended by Sen. George Mitchell in his report on baseball and steroids and implemented by commissioner Bud Selig in January, is one of the tools the investigative unit is using to catch drug cheats, along with information from outside investigators.

Everybody is baseball is said to have access to the anonymous hotline which hopes to break the so-called “code of silence” of steroid use in baseball.

The first casualty of the hotline is said to be Jordan Schafer, a top minor league player, according to an anonymous MLB source contacted by the New York Daily News. Schafer was suspended for growth hormone use due to evidence of a “non-analytical positive.” This was obviously not the result of a drug test nor evidence in a governmental steroid-related investigation (“Braves prospect unable to clarify HGH charge,” April 9).

Jordan Schafer, 21, already has a Nike contract and a projected center-field spot with the Braves in 2009.

However, this is a bad incident at the beginning of his career. Schafer was playing for Class AA Mississippi after a breakthrough 2007 season in Class A that lifted him to the organization’s No. 1 prospect.

There are questions, but even team officials have not been able to get complete answers. Schafer was advised not to discuss matters with anyone..

The anonymous hotline is being used to investigate suspected steroid use (and other performance enhancing drugs) in both the minor and major leagues.

Roorda, a Democrat from Jefferson County, filed a bill today that would bar state tax credits from going to professional sports teams in a league that does not place at least a one-year ban on athletes caught using steroids.

That would mean: No state breaks for the Cardinals, as well as the Royals, the Chiefs, the Rams, the Blues, the state’s minor league baseball teams, or pro soccer outfits…

“Since when in baseball is it four strikes and you’re out?” Roorda said in a statement today.

Never mind that in baseball, it is not one strike and you’re out either. Roorda obviously intends to highlight what he believes to be a weak steroid and doping policy in Major League Baseball.

But it also highlights the government’s “investment” in professional sports via corporate welfare (e.g. sales tax revenue and tax subsidies). Major League Baseball is not the only entity to benefit from the bigger, faster, stronger steroid-fueled performances.

The sales tax will raise $425 million over 25 years for the overhaul of the stadiums. The Royals will contribute another $25 million, the Chiefs $75 million and the state of Missouri $50 million in tax credits.

The State of Missouri has a long-term investment in the success of Major League Baseball. Is there a conflict of interest when the issue of steroid use threatens the sports?

“This bill attempts to send a message to Major League Baseball and to all other professional sports leagues that if they want to continue to ignore the problem that they have with steroids, that we’re not going to continue to underwrite their activities with tax dollars,” Roorda said.  

How involved (taxpayer funds) should the government be in building stadiums for private sports teams? I’ve previously written about my distaste for government regulation of the rules in private sports leagues; I also question whether the government should provide corporate welfare to professional sports leagues especially if the government has a problem with the widespread steroid use.  Thoughts?

Garcia began to study the career trajectories of known steroid users such as Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti and Jason Giambi.?His statistical analysis showed that each aforementioned player’s performance in the areas of batting average and home runs significantly and quantifiably spiked after he?began taking steroids.

The “theory of roidactivity” is detailed in Nick Garcia’s book, “A Very Big League of Their Own: Cracking Baseball’s Steroid Code.” I’ve added it to my reading list.

I do not believe that this is the case. There really isn’t any documented evidence to support such a claim. Although all anabolic steroid users I would venture to guess use sport supplements – I do not necessarily support the hypothesis that increasing supplement use would increase anabolic steroid use.

Furthermore, he told me that steroid education programs are critical in high schools address the confusion regarding steroids and supplements:

These educational programs need to first involve educating coaches and athletic directors concerning realistic expectations from training programs and the risks and benefits of anabolic steroids and when supplements could be considered (they do not go hand-in-hand with the onset of training programs that unfortunately too many uneducated coaches appear to stress) and then educating the adolescent athlete.

We need to remember that steroid education involving coaches is also important at reducing steroid use in high schools.

The NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau launched an investigation last month after 27 names of NYPD officers were among those buying steroids and growth hormone from Lowen’s Pharmacy; only a few officers faced internal charges and none faced criminal charges.

Lowen’s Pharmacy has been raided by narcotics officers working with the New York’s Albany District Attorney David Soares multi-state investigation into steroid and growth hormone distribution by longevity clinics and pharmacies.

Officials are still reviewing 4,000 to 5,000 prescriptions for growth hormone that were filled over the past 18 months. I wonder what NYPD will do with this information.

The video features lengthy segments featuring high school teenage athletes who used steroids and suffered. The video implies that anabolic steroids caused stroke and paralysis in one case; it implies that steroids caused suicide in the other case (Taylor Hooton). This type of “scare tactic” approach is common in state produced steroid education and anti-drug productions.

Legislators and state educators need to realize that what is negative to adults is not necessarily negative to teenagers. High school athletes contemplating the use of steroids are much more motivated by the positive reinforcement resulting from steroids; their behavior isn’t as heavily influenced by fear of uncertain punishment, especially the low probability, overstated, exaggerated, or downright inaccurate side effects promoted in typical steroid education videos.

There was an insightful comment by a high school student who watched the UIL steroid education video. He watched the emotional scare tactics involving steroids and stroke/paralysis, and steroids and suicide, but this apparently had little influence on him; his biggest concern was the risk of tendon tears.

Me and a couple of friends got a little worried about it after we watched it… One thing that really scared me is your muscles get too strong for your tendons and then your muscles rip out your tendons.

The scare tactics didn’t work; he was more influenced by the (more realistic) possible effect on performance. What is negative to adults and what is negative to high school athletes are not necessarily the same thing.

In society’s obsession with steroids, I think the real concerns are often ignored. The student goes on to say:

That [steroids] can take you out of football for life, and football is my life.

A discussion of the overemphasis of athletics in high schools (especially in Texas) and winning by everyone involved is critical in the steroid debate.

Steroid Education Video by UIL Texas: The Making of a Champion

The report also uses statistics to show that Clemens’ performance had unpredictable “ups and downs” or “peaks and valleys” over the course of his career. The report asserts that “straight trend lines in performance” simply do no exist in Major League Baseball.

It suggests that variations in Clemens’ performance were similar to other notable pitchers, including Curt Schilling, who had their best “qualitative performances” later in their career. Schilling has frequently prodded Roger Clemens to come forward and tell the truth (presumably about his steroid use).

The reports also notes that Clemens career after age 40 is not an aberration in Major League Baseball; dozens of Hall of Fame pitchers have pitched well into their 40s.

The clear intent of this report is to refute allegations of steroid use by Roger Clemens in the Mitchell Report. The Roger Clemens report does an excellent job of suggesting that their are many factors that contributed to Roger Clemens late career success. But even as much as the general public and media love single cause theories e.g. steroids were THE reason for Roger Clemens success, I find it hard to believe the public will embrace a competing single cause theory e.g. the split-finger fastball was THE reason for Roger Clemens late career success!

Florida, New Jersey and, most recently, Texas have all passed legislation mandating drug-testing programs for anabolic steroids in students competing in extracurricular sports at public high schools.

After looking at the details of the UIL Anabolic Steroid Testing Program, I can see several reasons why Texas program is likely to be ineffective. State officials in Texas believe their massive steroid testing program should be a model for other states!

In general, the media have been the cheerleaders praising the program. A reporter from the Houston Chronicle seemed satisfied with news that Florida’s steroid testing program uncovered 1 positive steroid result out of 430 steroid tests citing “favorable feedback.” This was in spite of the following statement from the Florida High School Athletic Association:

The odds are not really in your favor that you are going to get somebody.

The Chronicle reporter then interjected some of that Texas pride suggesting that the Texas steroid testing program would be bigger and better than Florida’s.

Florida’s testing program will target only 1 percent of student athletes who participate in football, baseball, girls’ softball and weightlifting, or about 604 students. The Texas testing program will involve about 3 percent of all high school student athletes. Florida is spending $100,000 for its testing program, while Texas will spend nearly $3 million a year. Texas will test as many as 25,000 student athletes per year.

Students tested: Texas (25,000) vs. Florida (604)

Percentage tested: Texas (3%) vs. Florida (1%)

Taxpayer funds spent: Texas ($3 million/year) vs. Florida ($100,000)

Yes – Texas definitely beats Florida – as the biggest failure in efforts to reduce steroid use by high school athletes.

Frank Bowman, a former prosecutor and current law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, posted some interesting thoughts on the matter on Slate. The Justice Department’s behavior is problematic when it comes to “grand jury secrecy laws” and its policy on “uncharged third parties”:

A mere allegation of criminal wrongdoing coming from government sources can wreck a life or a career. If formal charges are filed, the defendant will at least have his day in court to admit or attempt to disprove the government’s case. But if the allegation comes in a report issued by the private sector, but engineered by the government, the reputational damage is done, and the defendant has no forum in which to contest it.

For precisely this reason, by law, federal grand jury proceedings are secret to protect the reputations of those who are investigated but never prosecuted. Historically, Department of Justice policy has been even more sensitive to these interests. In public filings and proceedings, the DoJ’s Principles of Federal Prosecution require prosecutors to “remain sensitive to the privacy and reputation interests of uncharged third-parties,” which “means that, in the absence of some significant justification, it is not appropriate to identify … or cause a defendant to identify, a third-party wrongdoer unless that party has been officially charged with the misconduct at issue.” (The italics are mine.)

Technically, the deals requiring McNamee and Radomski to cooperate with Mitchell probably don’t violate grand jury secrecy laws, because those laws bind prosecutors, agents, and grand jurors, but not witnesses like McNamee and Radomski. And technically, those deals might not have violated DoJ policy on uncharged third parties, inasmuch as Clemens and other players weren’t actually named in official filings or in a federal courtroom. But using plea bargaining leverage to require witnesses to divulge to Mitchell the names of people the Justice Department never intended to prosecute surely violated the purposes of both grand jury secrecy law and DoJ policy.

The requirement for Radomski and McNamee to cooperate with Mitchell was clearly outlined in their plea agreements: 

I will cooperate with non-governmental anti-doping agencies at the direction of the government. I understand that this cooperation may include interviews, statements, or other proceedings.

Frank Bowman goes on to suggest that this potential abuse of government powers is serious enough for Congress to call a formal investigation.

Now, if you think that Professor Bowman is somehow sympathetic to Major League Baseball players who have used anabolic steroids or growth hormone, think again. Bowman believes the “hierarchy of the performance-enhancing drug market for professional athletes” is such that federal prosecutors should primarily target the “athletes” and not the “dealers” which is contrary to the customary prosecutorial practice of pursuing dealers instead of users.

Even if you agree with government involvement in anti-doping efforts of private sporting leagues, there should always be limitations on government behavior to prevent abuses of power.

Source: Slate

Three and half weeks after he quit using steroids “cold turkey” my son took his own life – a victim of the deep depression that accompanies withdrawal from these drugs.

This type of emotional testimony really has a strong effect on me as I’m sure it does on many others. Unfortunately, such emotional testimony is useless when it comes to scientifically, logically and rationally informed public policy.

Despite the testimony of grieving parents and so-called experts, it is not possible to show that anabolics steroids cause suicide. The role of anabolic steroids in depression and suicide is unclear.  Professor Jack Darkes, PhD of the University of South Florida explains why it is important for scientific experts and researchers to remain objective when evaluating such emotional testimony.

Suicide is a devastating and tragic event and the more that is known about the individual characteristics that signal increased risk for suicide, especially in adolescents, the better equipped we will be to intervene in time to save innocent lives like those mentioned herein. Suicide is an event where false-positive identification carries with it little harm at the personal level (certainly much less than the act, especially if handled correctly to avoid any stigma), but great benefit in some cases. Efforts to educate adolescents, families, physicians and others to the warning signs, be they drug use or other risky behaviors or psychopathologies, should be applauded. Efforts to ascribe such events to a single cause can distract attention from other important indicators that need to be noted. Ascribing blame can be comforting at times of devastation when one desperately needs to make sense of events and “do something”. But, from a scientific perspective, such efforts must be looked at skeptically and dispassionately. In this scientists must strive to remain ethically neutral and objective. They must attempt to ensure that they communicate clearly, not adjusting their message for a public seeking confirming statements and value judgments. Science has limitations, as do its research methods. Scientists do their best service when they remember this when reporting on their work to the public.

Our country and the health of our adolescent who face steroid use would be best served if Congressional policymakers would also remain ethically neutral and objective.