Onyebuchi Odunukwe, a self-employed personal trainer, was arrested on Monday night by investigators for using steroids and pot. The 21-year old trainer also recently made news for driving his car into the scooter of Razorback football player. He is now facing preliminary felony charges involving possession of steroids with the intention to deliver, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and also two counts of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and conspiracy to deliver the said illegal drug. Police found vials of steroids and 15 pounds of marijuana in his home in 2672 Arroyo Ave., Apt. 3, in Fayetteville. Chad W. Dittrich was also arrested for preliminary felony charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver in the same area.

The members of the 4th Judicial District Drug Task Force said that they saw Dittrich enter Odunukwe’s house at around 9 p.m. last Friday and leave with a package. Investigators stopped his car for traffic violations. The K-9 unit went to the area to assist the task force in searching Dittrich’s vehicle. Police reported that search officers found 8 pounds of high-grade marijuana in the car’s trunk. The undercover investigator is said to have witnessed Dittrich placing the package in his trunk after leaving the Odunukwe’s residence.

Odunukwe was already being investigated by drug task force members earlier that day. An informant even reported to have purchased multiple pounds of marijuana from him at his home. During the investigation, task force members saw him driving near Dickinson Street and Highland Avenue in Fayetteville. The patrol unit placed his vehicle and had him under arrest. During the search operation at the Odunukwe’s residence, they have allegedly found 15 pounds of marijuana, dosage units of steroids and a loaded 9 mm handgun. Cpl. Craig Stout of Fayetteville police said it has been a long time since the last time they arrested someone for steroid possession. “This is completely new territory for us,” he said. “We don’t know the specific street value of steroids, since they’re not something the drug task force encounters very often. They do know that it’s in the thousand-dollar range.”

Stout also said some of the steroid dosages found during the search operation contained human growth hormone which is known to stimulate growth and cell production in human. This illegal substance is also used by athletes and many have already tested positive. The National Football League, National Collegiate Athletic Association and the International Olympic Committee have banned the use of steroids. This is however clinically used to treat children’s growth disorder and adult growth-hormone deficiency. The US Food and Drug Administration cited the long-term side effects of the drug including an increased risk of cancer, nerve pain, and the elevated cholesterol and glucose levels.

Both suspects were transported to the Washington Sheriff’s Office. Both are said to make their very first appearance in Washington County Circuit Court. Investigation however is still ongoing. “There’s definitely some follow-up to do because there’s been a lot of activity with these two gentlemen,” Stout said. “At this point, there’s no reason to believe that any University of Arkansas athletes are related to this case.”

Baseball is not the only sport that is haunted by steroid controversies as even the National Rugby League (NRL) is also mired with the same scandal after star player Reni Maitua tested positive to a banned substance. The Sharks forward is now facing a two-year ban after testing positive to Clenbuterol. This is a fat-burning steroid that is included in the list of prohibited substances of the World Anti-Doping Authority. It was the Australian Sports and Anti-Doping Authority who announced to Maitua on Tuesday about the positive drug test result. Urine samples were provided to ASADA testers after training at the Toyota Stadium on May 1. This is a day after Cronulla’s round-eight loss to the Sydney Roosters. Right after the telephone call from authorities, Maitua, together with his agent Ayoub rushed to the city for emergency consultation with Henry Davis York, Cronulla’s lawyer. The ex-Bulldogs and the Australian Test utility arrived at the lawyers’ offices in Martin Place. He was then joined by Cronulla CEO Tony Zappia.

NRL and Cronulla already confirmed that Maitua would be stood down from training, playing and clubb duties once the B-sample results arrived. Once they confirm the result of the A-sample, rugby star will face a hearing before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If he is found guilt, he will be dealt with necessary punishment, which is an automatic two-year ban. The same thing happened to NSW Waratahs and Broncos star Wendell Sailor when he tested positive for cocaine in 2006. Zappia, on the other hand, announced that the athlete had invoked his right for the B-sample to be tested. The steroid scandal came at a wrong instance since the cash-strapped Sharks is still struggling to hang on to sponsors after the Matthew Johns group sex incident. “It’s absolutely disappointing for the club,” Zappia said. “I feel for the players and the supporter and in particular our corporate partners.”

The Clenbuterol that is found in Maitua comes in a gel or powder form and is usually used by bodybuilders to cut weight. It was also the same drug that was found last year to American swimmer Jessica Hardy. Even pop star Britney Spears is allegedly reported to have used the banned steroid to assist with weight loss in her pursuit to bring back her sexy image after giving birth to two boys.

Meanwhile, David Gallop, NRL boss, was hospitalized for a health check when the steroid drama broke and was unavailable for comment. Aussie loans businessman John Symond has also warned that he will “walk” from his company’s $1 million State of Origin sponsorship if another player is tested positive for illegal drugs. He said that he was concerned about saving a good image of his brand and he has been “put at risk” in the wake of another scandal. “Rugby league has got to get tough and put the accountability on the clubs themselves to better manage and mentor their players,” Symond said.

The steroid controversy in the world of rugby is already prevalent even after Maitua tested positive for a banned clenbuterol drug. Former Kiwis captain Richie Barnett revealed while he never saw or heard of players doping, there are signs that steroid use exists in rugby. “It takes years and years to get a decent size and you just wonder, you just have those doubts now about how players can get to the stage they are,” he said. Barnett even believes that players from other clubs were using steroids regularly when he played for the Sharks between 1994 and 1997.

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Prosecutors in Vienna initiated criminal proceedings against cyclists Michael Rasmussen from Denmark and Bernhard Kohl from Austria, as well as Nordic skier Christian Hoffmann also from Austria, for allegedly operating a blood doping organization and being involved in an international doping conspiracy. According to APA, an Austrian news agency, the three suspected athletes invested in a blood centrifuge, using it for themselves and making it available to other athletes as well.

Blood Doping
Endurance sports such as cycling, running, and skiing stress the entire system including the lungs, the bloodstream, and the muscles. For athletes to maintain their stamina, they need a steady supply of oxygen, which is contained within the red blood cells. Thus, red blood cells are said to give an athlete a natural edge in endurance sports and endurance sport athletes find ways to bolster their red blood cells. Blood doping or blood packing is the illegal practice of harvesting blood, either the athlete’s own or from a donor with a healthy and matching blood type, and then processed with the intent of concentrating red blood cells or enriching with performance-enhancing red blood cells. The processed blood is then frozen and stored and transfused back into the athlete shortly before a competition. This is technically considered a performance enhancing substance and is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency and most other sports organizations in the world. The extra red blood cells ensuing from blood doping is believed to deliver more oxygen in the body, as well as increase essential elements to the athlete’s muscle tissues. As a result, the athlete will have more stamina and endurance. In endurance sports, winning is oftentimes a matter of good physical conditioning rather than strategy or skill. Blood doping can give an athlete an edge over other athletes, and is thus a form of cheating.

Christian Hoffman
Hoffman denied the accusations telling The Austrian daily Die Presse that it was absolute nonsense and that it was a smear campaign against him. Hoffmann is a gold medalist in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. His name was the first to come up in the prosecutors’ confirmations regarding the blood doping operation.

Bernhard Kohl
Kohl, on the other hand, had previously admitted in public that he used blood doping and that he bought the machine together with other athletes. His third place medal in the 2008 Tour de France was revoked after admitting to using the advanced blood-boosting and banned performance-enhancing drug, CERA (continuous erythropoitin receptor activator, a third-generation variant of erythropoietin, also called EPO). Stefan Matschiner, Kohl’s former manager, was heavily implicated by him and the blood centrifuge machine was found in Matschiner’s Budapest apartment.

Michael Rasmussen
Rasmussen is currently banned from Tour de France and had his contract terminated by his former team, Rabobank, for allegedly violating internal codes and lying about his whereabouts during the 2007 Tour. He is currently without a team but is known to be training since June 2008. Regarding the blood doping, he is yet to comment on recent allegations regarding the criminal proceedings filed by prosecutors in Vienna.

Ex-Yankee David Wells wants a harsh punishment to players who tested positive for steroid use. According to him, steroid users should be banned after first failed test. The Major League Baseball (MLB) is widely criticized for its lenient steroid policy especially now that more and more players are exposed to have used steroids during their career. “I think that would be great. No 50-game suspension. Ban them right away. That would stop it in a heartbeat, especially with the money they’re giving out today,” expressed Wells. “It would be incredible if they did that.” He also said that players who admitted of using steroid should not be elected to the Hall of Fame. “Alex Rodriguez admitted to it, so I mean the home runs he hit off me in Texas, should those count? I dunno… they say everyone’s doing it, let ‘em do it. But if they elect to do it, they are not entitled to go to the Hall of Fame if they got Hall of Fame numbers, or just ban them right out the get-go.”

Wells was part of the TBS broadcast crew at the Yankee Stadium on the 11th anniversary of his 1998 perfect Twins-Yankees game. There, he said that that he sympathizes for Roger Clemens but he thinks Clemens look guilty of using steroids. Clemens is being investigated for lying under oath to Congress. “You don’t want to criticize too quick, but the facts they have in hand, I don’t think it looks good for him,” the former pitcher said. “You hope, because what he did for the game of baseball was pretty overwhelming, but was it clean or was it dirty?”

Another baseball star, who is put on the spotlight for steroid use is Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, who homered for a second straight day, admitted the use of anabolic steroid during his 2001-2003 stint with the Texas Rangers. During that span, Rodriguez belted 156 homers but to Wells said that the Rodriguez’s stats should be subtracted. “He claimed he was on juice, so, no, they shouldn’t count. You look at Jose Canseco when he came out and did it, they couldn’t have done anything back then because it wasn’t really an issue.”

Wells also added that Clemens constantly calls to him as Eli, a slang for “he lies.” But when he saw the Rocket at a charity golf tournament last year in Oklahoma, “I started calling him Eli, because for years, he called me Eli, you know. Whatever comes out of Boomer’s mount, he lies. Well I got payback.” He also said that the Rocket was angry but Clemens did walk over and say hello.

David Wells is considered as one of baseball’s better left-handed pitchers, especially during his time with the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays. He is also one of the 17 pitchers to have a perfect game in MLB. This is the moment when he blanked the Minnesota Twins, 4-0. On August 2, 2008, he said that he was not going to officially retire, but admitted he was probably done.

The House Bill 272 received great support from Central Illinois high school coaches and administrators. The bill states that athletes should be required to undergo testing for the presence of steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. School administrators and coaches say that a properly administered drug-testing program could be a deterrent for those who have not yet started using banned substances as well as serve as an aid to those who already have steroid-related problems. The bill is not only about drug-testing as it also requires high school coaches to complete an Illinois High School Association-developed educational program on the prevention and abuse of performance-enhancing drugs.

Dan Rourke of the Chatman Glenwood High School football coach thinks that HB 272 is a big help in educating the student-athletes on the dangers of banned substances. It is also agreed by Ken Leonard, a Heart-Griffin High School football coach by saying that the measure is “great.” “Anything we can do to help kids, so we can find out if there is a problem. It’s around everywhere—not just steroids, but other drugs.” Mike Garcia of the Lanphier track and cross-country coach also supported the said bill and said that random testing is something that needs to be done, even if it means a little inconvenience for coaches and athletes. “I heard that at the state cross-country meet it takes a long time to get them to take a drug test and then stand around and wait,” he said. “But if that’s what we have to do to curb this, it’s a small price to pay.

After the unanimous decision of the legislative body, the HB 272 was sent to Gov. Pat Quinn. Students who will test positive or refuse to submit to random testing shall be banned from athletic competition for an unspecified time frame. The IHSA has already performed random drug tests for student-athletes in state championship competitions just this school year. The program of the association will test around 700 athletes at the state series level in every IHSA sport. The difference of HB 272 to IHSA’s drug testing program is that it will test at least 1,000 athletes each year and random testing will happen any time within the school year period. The testing is conducted to monitor athletes using performance-enhancing drugs including steroids or stimulants and not marijuana or cocaine. This bill will be immediately became a law after being signed.

IHSA executive director Marty Hickman also believes that the house bill will help lessen the problems of student-athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. Just this February, The State Journal-Register released a report that none of the 264 students who participated in the random testing program were found to have violated the association’s policies. Only six were found positive for stimulants or anabolic steroids but they were later on granted with “medical exceptions.”

Rourke also believes that young athletes take steroids because they could be confused after being bombarded with mixed messages about what supplements are and what they can do to their body. For his athletes’ sake, he gives his players a simple guideline to be safe. “I tell them, ‘Eat what mom puts on the table at home and you’ll probably be OK,’” Rourke said. “If there’s a question, don’t do it. In no way would I encourage a kid to take anything. I just feel like the best thing to do is to work hard, eat right and work out smart.

Not to be outdone by the scandals rocking MLB, it seems Korean professional baseball players are juicing too; that’s according to an all-new behind-the-scenes, tell-all memoir entitled, “The Original Character of Baseball (Those Who Have the Future),” penned by former Korean baseball star Ma Hae Yeong, chronicling his days in the Korean league and causing quite a stir back home and the international sports world.

In his book, Hae Yeong contends that he witnessed around 10 baseball players in Korea using steroids during his career. Now 38 years old, the former baseball star who played for the Lotte Giants in 1995, Samsung Lions in 2001, Kia Tigers in 2004, and LG Twins in 2006 until retiring in 2008. He recently released a book that takes readers inside the baseball sport in Korea, including the alleged use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), as well as the allegation that some KBO players reveal signals to opposing teams, which is a form of cheating. In an interview, Ma said that he witnessed quite a few players using legally banned steroids while playing in the KBO.

Hae Yeong’s career spans over 14 seasons before he finally quit baseball only last year in 2008. He was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the 2002 Korean Series and batted an average of .294 with 1,609 hits, 260 homeruns and 1,003 runs scored.

According to Hae Yeong, although foreigners or import players used the drug more often and usually taking it at a higher dose ratio. Many local Korean players also used the banned substance and were asked to take it by the foreign players. He said that partly due to curiosity, certain Korean player took steroids for a while. Hae Yeong adds that players who have to put up impressive numbers within a relatively short career are easily tempted and fall into the use of steroids to ease the pressure. Hae Yeong was quick to note that most of the Korean players who did steroids are now retired but that he could not name these players since he did not want to injure their honor.

When he was demoted to second string, Ma Hae Yeong said that he almost yielded to the lure of banned substances. He believes that baseball players in Korea no longer took banned drugs saying that he hopes his statements won’t be exaggerated. “I wrote this book to prevent young players from falling into a trap.” Ma said.

In 2007, the Korean baseball governing body implemented a drug testing program, conducting two random tests of three baseball players from each team starting last year. They also plan to do mandatory tests for all import foreign players and a few local players who are suspected steroid users.

The Korean league was formed in 1982 and from that time, no player has ever been caught using steroids. However, former player for the Doosan Bears, Daniel Rios was dismissed by the Yakult Swallows in 2008 after testing for a substance that was indicative of anabolic steroid use. Rios had a 90-59 with a 3.01 ERA playing six years in the league.