Baseball Steroids Scandal: Legal Issues Mount Nears Opening Day

As Baseball opening day approaches, we at Weitz & Luxenberg know many people have been curious about the ongoing legal investigation into steroids in baseball. Steroids are dangerous drugs that cause serious side effects and ruin lives. But unlike Vioxx or Tysabri, steroids were illegal when used and those professional baseball players using steroids probably usually knew the dangers. We provinde this press release from Senator Joe Biden of Delaware on the baseball & steroids matter for your convenience.

March 17, 2005
Press Release

OP-ED: Time To Knock Steroids Out Of The Park

Hartford Courant

Time To Knock Steroids Out Of The Park

By Joseph R. Biden

Two important hearings regarding illegal steroids are scheduled this week. One will feature some of the biggest stars in Major League Baseball coming to Capitol Hill. The other will focus on kids from Daniel Hand High School in Madison who were caught with illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Although the baseball hearings will generate more headlines, the student athlete scandal should set off more alarm bells.

The teenagers arrested in Connecticut, who ranged in age from 14 to 17, were members of the baseball, football and track teams. An observant teacher noticed one of the boys allegedly selling steroids during class. The students involved have been suspended or expelled. And three of them could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison on steroid possession and dealing charges.

None of the millionaire pro ballplayers called to testify are likely to face any jail time. In fact, some who have admitted using steroids have asked for immunity deals.

Many believe we should have more important things to investigate than Major League Baseball. To a certain extent, I agree: This is clearly not the No.1 issue facing Congress.

But congressional hearings on baseball's steroids scandal are hardly a trivial pursuit. Our national pastime faces questions more serious than the legitimacy of modern-day home run records. High school athletes, like those in Madison, watch their sports heroes bend and even break the rules, and they believe their own success may depend on emulating the pros.

To those who don't believe an athlete influences the habits of his or her fans, consider this: When Mark McGwire admitted he used androstenedione during his home run record-breaking season, sales of the product soared.

What happened at Daniel Hand High School happens all too often at other schools across the country. Recent studies show that nearly three-quarters of kids say they admire and want to be just like professional athletes, and more than half believe pros use steroids to win. The Centers for Disease Control says about 1 million school-age athletes have used anabolic steroids.

Steroid users of all ages believe it will make them stronger, but they ignore the serious health hazards. It puts people at greater risk for heart attacks and strokes, increases aggressiveness, stunts growth and can cause liver and kidney damage. Many of these side effects are irreversible.

Yet, many pro baseball players remain cavalier.

Baseball's new steroid-testing agreement is a good first step toward cleaning up the game, but it doesn't go far enough. Baseball needs a testing system as credible as the one run by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for the Olympics.

If baseball really wants to knock steroids out of the park, the players and owners should do four things:

1. Close loopholes in the current agreement, which allow first-time offenders to pay a small fine of up to $10,000 instead of imposing a 10-day suspension.
2. The players should go back to the negotiating table and accept a genuinely tough, credible testing program that includes all known masking agents.
3. Players and owners should fund a program to teach kids that using performance-enhancing drugs is dangerous, and that cheating is intolerable.
4. Stay a step ahead of the dopers by funding independent research to uncover the latest designer steroids.

These are things baseball could do in conjunction with other pro sports leagues. In fact, other professional sports leagues and their players associations should take a good, hard look at what is happening to baseball and learn from its mistakes.

The NFL has a decent testing system, but there is room for improvement. The NBA's drug-testing system is definitely lagging.

The BALCO steroid scandal proved that athletes who can make millions are willing to spend thousands to gain an edge and not get caught. It is time for all pro sports in America to get in line with the high standards of the Olympics.

Steroids and other illegal drugs are not just baseball's problem, and steroid use by high school athletes isn't just Daniel Hand High School's problem. This truly is a national problem, and the seriousness and urgency with which athletes, owners, educators, parents and community leaders confront it will speak volumes about the kind of society in which we want to live and the values we cherish.

U.S. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., wrote the 1990 law making steroid trafficking illegal and the 2004 law banning andro and THG.

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