Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Contact:  213-237-4712
Website:  http://www.latimes.com/
Pubdate: February 27, 1998

GINGRICH: BAN DRUG-USING ATHLETES

WASHINGTON--All sports leagues and associations should give a one-year
suspension to any athlete testing positive for drugs and ban any athlete
who  does not disclose the source of his drugs, House Speaker Newt Gingrich
is  recommending.

"It seems to me you have to bear a certain responsibility as a star," the
Georgia Republican said at a news conference.  He said he was asking for
players to turn in drug dealers because "we have to make life very
frightening for dealers."  Gingrich said he would send the major sports
groups a draft of his idea and ask for their comments.

"I think anybody who has any type of knowledge of substance abuse realizes
that the treatment aspect is just as important" as punitive action, said
Stacy Robinson, director of player development for the National Football
League.  Gingrich, he said, "should not forget that we are dealing with
human beings and are dealing with in essence a sickness."

Pat Courtney of Major League Baseball said it would be tough to impose
unilaterally the ideas proposed by Gingrich because anti-drug policy is
determined through collective bargaining with the players' association.

In baseball a player testing positive for drugs must receive treatment and
is disciplined for a second offense. In the NFL, a person caught taking
drugs must enter a rehabilitation program where he must undergo random
testing. On testing positive again he loses four weeks' pay, a second
offense is a four-week suspension and a third means banishment.  National
Basketball Association spokesman Brian McIntyre said: "We thank the
speaker for his thoughts, but as it relates to the NBA we think that this
is  an issue that is best addressed solely by the NBA and its players."

In the NBA, a player who comes forward voluntarily with a drug problem
receives treatment and is suspended with pay for the first offense.  The
second time he is suspended without pay, and the third time he is made
ineligible. A guilty plea for heroin or cocaine is ground for expulsion.
Gingrich made his comments at a news conference held by the Family Research
Council, a conservative interest group.

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