When Is Drug Testing Over The Top?

Drug testing in professional and amateur sports is getting ridiculous. With positives, false positives, and masking agents all around the world, in all types of sports, there is cause for concern. With the breaking news that Philadelphia Phillies reliever J.C. Romero, and New York Yankees minor league pitcher Sergio Mitre are now suspended for 50 games for testing positive for “a banned substance,” the sports world needs to take a look at how they deal with actual “dopers” and accidental “dopers.”

Before I go any further, I will say that I am not a doctor; I am just an older athlete who has been following this subject for many years, and I do not condone any intentional doping of athletes at any level. Notice I said “intentional.”

When an athlete purchases a protein shake, Powerbar, or some other training supplement at a pharmacy or nutrition store, then “pops” positive on a drug test and gets suspended for it, that is a travesty.

Though there is no mention of the particular substance or product purchased, J.C. Romero is claiming that he went to his local GNC store, bought a product, ran it by his team trainers/nutritionists, and still popped for a banned substance, and now is facing a 50-game suspension. If this is the truth, then MLB has a big problem on its hands.

This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last, that the “GNC did it” excuse will be used. I personally have a problem with this, as not everyone can be lying. Yes, there will be athletes who try and use it as a crutch or umbrella, but it does not mean it will always be a lie.

The United States has one of the toughest overall illegal drug policies in the world, especially when it comes to athletes. Anabolic steroids, amphetamines, and a ton of other products are deemed illegal by the government, and the governing bodies of individual sports, however, the drug testing of sports is getting “ticky-tack.”

If an athlete has elevated testosterone levels, they are considered as doping somehow. What these governing bodies are forgetting is that this is sports! When a person puts themselves through the training regiments to compete at elite levels of sport, their bodies—for the most part—produce more of everything to help the body stay healthy. Extra testosterone, extra dopamine, extra insulin, etc…

Take a cyclist for example: Cycling is about cardiovascular conditioning, and lower body strength. In a normal human body, a majority of testosterone is produced in the legs. So a vigorously trained cyclist, since they use their legs a lot, would have a natural testosterone boost. Also, almost every sport requires the athlete to run, meaning they use their legs, which normally would mean an elevated testosterone level.

I’m not going to go into illegal anabolic steroids, narcotics such as cocaine and marijuana, or the “cream and clear” from BALCO, as those are obviously illegal. I do want to address these “other” substances which are rarely named in public, or which product was bought over the counter that caused a “positive” test.

Another recent big story along the lines I am speaking of, is the NFL’s attempted suspension of five players for popping for a banned diuretic contained in the product, Star Caps. Regardless of the reason the players took this supplement, it was obtained legally over-the-counter (OTC), and the NFL had not warned players that this product contained a banned substance. In fact the bottle did not have the ingredient in question even listed on the label. With that evidence alone, a federal judge issued an injunction on the suspensions.

Another wrinkle is the use of diuretics. A diuretic is something that helps a person lose pounds by shedding water weight. Some athletes have a clause in their contract specifying they have to meet a certain weight requirement or their contract could be voided. This occurs mainly in the NFL, however other sports use this type of clause to encourage their heavier athletes to keep in shape in their off-seasons. Some athletes use these types of products for health reasons also because they are naturally too heavy, have high blood pressure, etc. Now, ask yourself: With this being the age of Gatorade and hydrating, how would this increase an athlete’s performance? In most cases I would say it would do more harm than good.

Now let us talk about what professional sports and their lawyers call “personal responsibility.” Their definition of this is that “You are responsible for what passes through your mouth or nose into your body.” For the most part, this definition can be held truthful; you are responsible to know what is going into your body.

In the case of the five NFL players, the league knew of the Star Caps containing this banned diuretic, but did not make it known to its players. Allegedly, in the Romero case, the player even ran the unnamed product by his nutritionist and team trainers, who approved its use. However, an arbitrator decided that Romero was guilty of negligence.

How can these six professional athletes be held responsible, when the products were obtained legally, OTC, in the United States? They cannot and should not be held responsible.

Professional sports leagues have the resources to literally walk into a GNC or a similar store, purchase every product on their shelves, and test them individually, then issue a list to each team, their trainers, and nutritionists, of products that contain the banned substances. As with the Star Caps, and I am sure with other products as well, the banned substance was not even on the label, therefore even one educated in health and nutrition would not know it contained said substance.

In Major League Baseball's recent Mitchell Report, many professional baseball players were named as people who had used anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, and other obviously-illegal substances. If you look at some of those individual cases, there are certain elements that came into play. Andy Pettite used HGH for a short time while rehabbing his shoulder—a common practice for non-professional athletes. The substance was prescribed by a licensed medical doctor for rehab.

Barry Bonds, though I personally doubt it, stated that he was supposedly going on the word of his personal trainer that the "cream" and the "clear" he was using was not illegal. (On this note, I will say, I highly doubt he didn’t know, but with the case of lying to a Grand Jury, there is a small, very small chance he actually didn’t know.)

Mark McGwire was using androstenodine during his 1998 home run chase, which at the time was not banned, and was considered “Steroids Lite.” And I can make a case for Rafeal Palmero accidentally taking steroids by accepting a “Vitamin B-12” shot from Miguel Tejada. In Palmero’s case, that is an obvious “personal responsibility” violation. If I had been him, I would have gone to the trainer for the shot, not Tejada.

There are plenty of illegal substance violators in professional sports, and in today’s society of having to perform at the highest level, day in and day out, there are plenty of legal supplements that help maintain a persons level of competition while keeping them healthy. When these legal supplements, sold over the counter are used to alienate athletes when there is ample opportunity for the leagues to inform individual teams of the products that contain something on the “banned” list, then the organizations should look into their policies. As I said earlier, they have the means, the money, and apparently the desire to control what their athletes put in their own bodies. However, when they have a “secret list” of banned substances, then fault the athlete for taking said substance, then there is something wrong.

What’s next? No aspirin? No Advil? No caffeine?

Enough is enough, professional sports leagues. Get your collective butts in gear, and make things known.  It’s bad enough athletes in the Olympics can’t even take an over the counter cold medicine.