In the midst of steroid scandals in professional sports, lawmakers are proposing some safeguards for student athletes and proposed a new bill that will handle similar cases in the young athletes. The proposal was made by state Sen. Michael Switalski. The Senate Bill (SB) 278 aims to not only mandate student-athlete testing for performance enhancing drugs and counseling sessions. The proposed bill will also require high schools to make an annual report to the state of the total number of students who were tested positive. It was already referred to the Senate Education Committee.

Switalski said that there is a need for a law that would deter students from taking performance enhancing drugs even if there are pressures from their areas of endeavor. The senator said, “The huge pressure to perform well in high school athletics and the desire to gain a performance advantage over opponents has led to an increase in steroid abuse among high school athletes, numerous studies have shown.” To prevent the student athletes putting their lives at risks a random drug testing program with consequences, combined with an increased educational awareness, would serve as an effective deterrent to young athletes.

Another state senator said that instituting new laws will prevent problems in the local school where most of the times they were being sued for violation of human rights. According to state Sen. Nancy Cassis, there is no current state drug policy for testing and she believe this should be left to locally elected school boards. “The thing we have researched is that those school districts that have instituted such a policy reportedly are being sued by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). I know there are legal issues around that and just testing athletes vs. testing the whole school, for example. If you don’t have a reason to test someone, that could potentially violate one’s constitutional rights,” she added.

Moreover, Senator Cassis hopes that a new system should be in place where students, parents and coaches get involved in fighting performance enhancing drugs. She also noted that signing pledges not to use performance enhancing drugs while at the same time providing information and education on the potential side effects will help. She suggested that student may be removed or disallowed to participate in all the activities of the school if found guilty of using any performance enhancing drugs.

However, some school officials were not that eager to support the bill proposed by Switalski. They enumerated some of the reasons why introducing a new law will not really curtail the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs in high schools.

The article of Andrew Sawmiller in the spinalcolumnonline.com mentioned some of the reactions of directors of different athletic organization.

Chris Ceresa, Milford High School Athletic Director

“Use of performance enhancing drugs by student-athletes is an issue his athletic system has been looking into, but there is no policy on the issue at the moment. “That is something we are going to continue to investigate,” he said. “Huron Valley would be very willing to consider this if we could do it on a cost-neutral basis and it was safe and good for kids.”

Steve Emery, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Director of Athletics

“At this point in time, no, we don’t have a policy. That’s really something that has to come from the district; but for me personally, I probably wouldn’t support something like that because (in states where they did testing) it wasn’t worth the costs.”

John R. Johnson, communications director for the MHSAA.

“This is not the first time (such a) bill has been introduced. For all the noise about testing programs in Texas and Florida, it was a waste of time, energy and money. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The MHSAA reinforces current laws and makes schools aware of them. Public Act 31 of 1990 requires a notice that possession or use of steroids is a crime. Public Act 187 of 1999 prohibits public school employees and volunteers from promoting or supplying dietary supplements which carry a notice of enhanced athletic performance.”

Since 2006, a lot of money has been poured into steroid testing programs for high school students in the state of New Jersey, Texas, Florida, and Illinois but so far only a few students have been caught. A lot of lawmakers and taxpayers used to think that steroid testing of high school athletes was the best way to fight and deter the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs but with too much money and too few positive results, a lot of these same lawmakers and taxpayers are doubting that it is still the best strategy worth their money.

Recent surveys made by the Associated Press have showed that out of the 30,799 students who were tested for steroid use since 2006 in all four states, only 20 students proved positive. The positive result falls insignificantly short of the conclusion of several studies about drug use among the youth associated with hormonal problems, stunted growth, heart ailments and strokes.

In a 2007-2008 study done by the University of Michigan, for instance, 2.2 percent of seniors were said to have tried steroids at least once, down from the 4 percent findings back in 2002. 2.2 percent is still comparatively high as opposed to the actual findings from the drug testing program.

Advocates of the drug testing program believe that the few positive results indicate that the drug testing program is effective as a deterrent, while critics think that it may indicate that there are flaws in how the tests were conducted. In any case, a lot of people are finding it hard to justify spending $200 on each drug test that rarely catch users, especially in the middle of an economic recession where budgets must be cut where possible.

Missouri senator Matt Bartle tried to push a statewide drug testing program because he was concerned about young athletes being influenced by the rampant steroid abuse in professional sports but when Florida dropped its high school steroid testing program in 2008 just after a one year trial (resulting with only one positive out of 600 students tested), Bartle thought twice about implementing the same program, deciding that it won’t be cost-effective in his state. He did not submit a proposal for steroid testing program this year. He questioned if steroid use was rampant enough among students to be worth spending a couple of million bucks against other more pressing concerns.

Doping scandals in baseball, track and field, cycling and other professional sports made lawmakers, parents and the public concerned about student athletes emulating their athletic heroes. In the drug testing program, students to be tested were randomly selected. In Illinois and New Jersey, only athletes competing in state tournaments were subject to steroid testing while all athletes in Texas were subjected.

In Florida, all athletes in baseball, football, weightlifting, softball, and flag football were eligible. Examination initiated by the Associated Press has showed that the implemented drug testing programs in all four states have limited impact when it came to catching steroid users. Of the 20 positive results, six students were granted medical exemptions, another 12 tests aside from the 20 were classified as unresolved and another 70 have been classified as “process positives.”

When it comes to steroid scandals, the media and the public has its eyes focused and attention fixed on Major League Baseball, the National Football League and various wrestling, bodybuilding and fighting federations. There has been little to no buzz surrounding NBA athletes when it comes to the possibility of their using steroids and other illegal performance enhancing drugs; the NBA seems to be immunized from the steroid problem in the world of sports.

Considering that performance enhancing drugs have infected nearly every other organized sport, whether amateur or professional and from high school leagues to international leagues, there is no reason not to dismiss basketball leagues as immune from steroid influence.

Some people suggest that basketball is a sport in which steroids do little to enhance an athlete’s performance, and thus using steroids in basketball is useless or futile. Of course, this proposition is ridiculous as we all know that steroids help people recover quicker, run faster, and hump higher—skills and abilities that basketball players will benefit from a great deal. If there is anything to be learned from the steroid scandals that have mired baseball, football, wrestling, and other athletic organizations it is this: Heed the signs before it is too late.

While there is nothing to be suspicious or alarmed about at the moment. Scrutinizing the NBA about possible or blooming problems can only be a virtue. Asking the right questions, investigating, and probing are some of the ways to establish a system of check and balance to possibly deter the abuse of illegal performance enhancing drugs or cease existing usage.

Is there a steroids problem existing in the NBA today? Tom Ziller made a strong argument on why NBA fans and the public should not be worried about a steroid problem in the NBA until there is actual proof that such a problem exists. While this is a fair argument, Ziller should be reminded that when the steroid problem started in football and baseball, fans had no idea, much less actual proof that the steroid problem existed. Players and their coaches were obviously keeping it from the fans and the public. How is the public to know if there is proof of existing steroid abuse when those with access or ability to question and probe do not pursue it?

One example that has got the media and some fans a bit curious is Stephen Jackson’s new training regimen involving increased weightlifting and meal-replacement shakes, which caused him to gain 10 pounds of muscle. Nearing his 31st birthday, Jackson usually weighed 222 to 223 pounds and after the regimen, now weighs 235 pounds—maintaining the best numbers of his career and an increased stamina.

Jackson said that it was the most that he has lifted in his career and it is starting to pay off. While he has gained a lot, he still has speed and it has definitely helped in his game a lot, he said. While there is barely any proof that Jackson is juicing, his sudden weight gain, increased stamina, age-defying improvement, and reported hot temper are all subject to a little probing.

Anti-doping research founder and professor emeritus at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine’s Dept. of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, Don Catlin, is probably the world’s most foremost sports scientist. For 25 years now, he has been fighting against steroid use in sports and is working to bring back the integrity of clean athletics. Founded in 2005, Catlin’s Anti-Doping Research laboratory is a two-story nondescript building that he describes as a part grassroots campaign, think tank and collaboration. Catlin’s fight against steroids in sports, however, dates back to as early as 1984, when Los Angeles was awarded the Summer Olympics.

During that time, there was no drug-testing facility for steroid screening operating in the US and the widespread feeling among other countries was that US athletes were probably doping because nobody cared enough to test and deter them from using steroids. To address the problem, the 1981 Medical Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) asked Don Catlin, a young UCLA professor at that time, to oversee the new steroid testing program.

Catlin had done similar work in the military and it was just logical that the emissaries from the committee would ask him to do the job. At that time, Catlin was at his 10th year as a professor at UCLA and was (and still is) an avid sports fan.

However, he did not have adequate knowledge about the prevalence of steroid use in athletics, especially because at that time it was completely unknown and was considered a non-entity. Because it seemed that there was nothing to accomplish in drug testing in sports, and as advised by his department chairman, Catlin was persuaded to reject IOC’s initial offer. However, the Committee was persistent and told Catlin that he was greatly needed by the IOC. In addition, they will also give a big grant to UCLA; that was enough to convince Catlin and his colleagues to accept the job.

The institution that came from the grant was the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, which Catlin ran for the last 25 years. It is the only lab of its kind and the US and has been utilized by the Olympics, MLB, NFL, NCAA, and the government on developing and researching drug-testing programs.

Catlin said that they are trying to play catch-up all the time as new kinds of designer steroids and illegal performance-enhancing drugs that are harder to detect keep on popping up every year. Under his tenure, Catlin oversaw and has been responsible for a lot of significant breakthroughs in anti-doping. These include the report of darbepoetin alfa, an EPO drug, as a doping agent used in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. A lot of athletes were banned from competition as Catlin anticipated that the drug would be popular in the 2002 games and developed a test in time.

Perhaps the UCLA lab’s greatest achievement was the discovery of tetrahydrogestrinone, a steroid popularly known as “The Clear” and was at the center of the Barry Bonds steroid scandal. The discovery of THG was monumental for Catlin’s lab and for the long battle against steroids in sports.

With a very impressive record in track and field, Justin Gatlin is planning to come back after a 4 year ban on his steroid use. Some of his great achievements include winning six NCAA titles before turning pro in 2002. After 2 years he compete in the Athens Olympics where he got the gold for 100-meter. He tied the then-world record in the same event with 9.77 at a meet in Qatar in 2006.

His good record was tainted when he was tested positive for steroids which caused his suspension and losing his medal. When Gatlin was required to undergo a blood test in a Kansas Relays, the results showed traces of testosterone and steroid precursors. That was when he was working with Coach Graham who was also the trainer of suspended Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. Graham was recently convicted of making false statements to federal agents.

In a report from nydailynews.com, Gatlin was seen training again in Morehouse College Relays in Atlanta together with a small group of athletes which are battling in the decathlon. The former Olympic gold medalist still draws attraction in the field. He was easily noticed by other athletes and students of the college. At the practice, other athletes turned into expectators as Gatlin explodes again and showed that he is still an Olympian. Gatlin said that the track is his home and it is where he belongs.

Originally, Gatlin’s ban is for 8 years but early last year, it was reduced to 4 years by a USADA arbitration panel. Some of the reasons considered by the panel is Gatlin’s claim that his positive test in college was due to Attention Deficit Disorder medication that he was taking that time. He also assisted the federal BALCO investigation in late 2006 against his trainer Graham. He helped federal investigators to secretly tap the phone calls of Graham and providing testimonies against his former coach.

When he was tested positive in a steroid test, USADA gave him a lifetime ban. He denied that he knowingly took steroids but claims that a vengeful masseuse rubbed him with a steroid cream moments before visiting doping control at Kansas. It was a claim originally made by his former Coach Trevor Graham. But USADA change their decision, instead they offered an 8 year ban with an option to appeal if Gatlin aknowledges the previous positive test for Adderal. Adderal which is used for ADD contains amphetamines.

Gatlin knows that when he come back in 2010 after his suspension, USADA will be closely monitoring him. He knows that he will be closely watched and subjected to frequent test by USADA. The most difficult thing is the treatment and perception of other athletes. “I’m gonna come back and be under a microscope. People are on the fence, waiting to see what I’ll do,” he said.

He also compared himself to a book where everybody is interested to know his story. “I’m like a book, and everyone read half of it. Now, they’re gonna pick it up for the end of the story.”

Miguel Tejada, the Astros shortstop, pleaded guilty last February 17 to one count of making misrepresentation to congress. He was forced to plead guilty because of the testimonies of other players and other controversial personalities in baseball like Kirk Radomski. It was Radomski who allegedly supplied Tejada with performance enhancing drugs through his teammate Adam Piatt.

Tejada’s lying to Congressional inquiry which was then headed by Senator George Mitchell, will definitely put him in prison. Under the law, his misrepresentation is punishable with a year in prison. The judge is expected to hand down the sentence on March 26.

However, Tejada is lucky as he got some help from the justice department. U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey Taylor, wrote the federal judge a memorandum stating that Miguel Tejada should not be imprisoned for making false statements about steroids to Congressional investigation.

Jeffrey Taylor wrote a sentencing memorandum to Federal Magistrate Judge Alan Kay that Tejada should receive probation. He said that Tejada was remorseful on what he had done during the inquiry. “Defendant has expressed appropriate remorse and contrition for his offense,” Taylor said. “He understands the seriousness of it. Mr. Tejada poses a minimal risk of recidivism and, based on his public statements, appears to have learned a difficult and important life lesson from his experience in this case,” he added.

It was also noted in the memorandum that Tejada had no previous criminal records. His impoverished childhood was also mentioned in the memo. Tejada came from poor community in the Dominican Republic but it did not hinder him to become one of the stars in baseball. Taylor said that Tejada has given back to the community in which he was raised.

Tejada’s case is not actually lying about his steroid use but the issue is about his knowledge of steroid use in baseball. His testimony that he doesn’t know and ask any player using steroids and human growth hormone was contradicted by Adam Piatt. Piatt told investigators that Tejada asked him where he can purchase steroids. That was way back in 2003.

He was pinned down further when Piatt asserted that Tejada even ask him to purchase performance enhancing drugs. Piatt purchased these PED’s from Radomski who at that time is working at the Mets clubhouse as an attendant. Kirk Radomski told former Sen. George Mitchell during the congressional inquiry that he had supplied steroids and human growth hormone to Tejada and dozens of ballplayers in MLB.