Pubdate: Tue, 18 Mar 2003
Source: Daily Cougar (U of Houston, TX Edu)
Copyright: 2003, Student Publications
Contact:  http://www.uh.edu/campus/cougar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1374
Author: Tom Carpenter

DRUG WAR SHOULD BE FOUGHT ON COURT

 From the days of Babe Ruth and his notorious bouts with booze to Steve 
Bechler's ephedrine-enhanced heat stroke death one month ago, the incidence 
of illegal drug use in college and professional sports has become epidemic 
? and that's not counting the cocktails that horse trainers mix up to 
improve their steeds' performances.

Trained and treated like thoroughbreds, today's athletes investigate every 
possibility that will give them "the edge" on their competition.

A few short years ago, major league baseball suffered what could only be 
termed an embarrassment of riches because of steroid-enhanced performances 
by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, among others.

In the same season, both men crushed the home run record that stood for 50 
years, then did it again the next season only, to have their records 
destroyed by Barry Bonds last year.

It's interesting to note that none of the aforementioned players would 
submit to steroid tests, because the tests were not mandated.

A culture that both glamorizes and condemns drug use also embraces a double 
standard of punishment for drug users.

Two out of three inmates in prison were incarcerated because they possessed 
less than three grams of dope at the time of their arrests.

Steve Howe, a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1980s, was 
busted eight times by major league baseball for cocaine abuse.

Howe didn't spend a day in jail, but baseball authorities magnanimously 
gave him seven chances to rehabilitate himself ? seven more chances than 
Lee Otis Johnson received in 1968 when he was sentenced to 30 years in 
prison for possessing one marijuana cigarette.

Of course, Howe had a great slider and Johnson was a Black Panther.

This season, Met baseball fans were entertained by a team that, according 
to allegations from the New York press, was rife with players who smoked 
pot regularly.

The Met players refused to respond to accusations that half of the team 
smoked marijuana during the season, but the team's fielding futility (it 
ranked last in the majors in fielding percentage) spoke volumes about the 
players' state of mind.

Houston sports fans have only to look at former Rocket John Lucas and 
former Astro Ken Caminiti to realize the problem exists here as well.

Lucas had a cocaine problem in the 1980s and Caminiti became addicted to 
pain pills in the 1990s because of the many injuries he suffered during his 
playing career.

Len Bias, a first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtic in 1986, died from 
a cocaine overdose while celebrating his selection before he ever donned a 
Celtic uniform.

Professional baseball players Darryl Strawberry and Dwight "Doc" Gooden, 
the entire Italian cycling team, Chinese Olympic gymnasts; all these 
athletes were banned from their sports for drug abuse or blood doping.

Ben Johnson, a Canadian sprinter, had to surrender his 1988 Olympic gold 
medal because he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

While the United States languishes without a coherent drug policy in 
professional and amateur sports, all major sports federations in the world 
and nearly 80 governments gave their approval and backing to the first 
World Anti-Doping Code by supporting a resolution that accepts the code as 
the basis for the fight against doping in any major sport.

The code is the first international mechanism to conform rules regarding 
doping across all sports and all nations.

If the country wants to pursue its impotent war on drugs, the nation's 
leaders should eliminate the double standards and either release the tens 
of thousands of inmates in prison for minor drug infractions, or toss a few 
professional athletes in jail when they get caught with drugs.
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