If we will believe this allegation by Earnest Graham of Bucs, we can say that the NFL anti-doping policy is a failure. In an interview by the WQYK-radio in Tampa last month, Buccaneers RB Earnest Graham said that he believes 30% of NFL players are using performance enhancing drugs like HGH or human growth hormone. Major sports organizations like the NFL are continuously fighting against the use of any performance enhancing drugs of its players. League officials may just brush off this allegation but for some people they may already conclude that there is really a big problem in the league in curtailing the use of banned substances.

JoeBucsfan.com quoted Graham saying that it would not shock him if a lot of NFL players are using HGH. “I would say, I’ve heard a lot of people, even in Hollywood the average person is (using) HGH. It’s supposed to be this great thing. Especially in a sport like football. You know, I would assume that a lot of guys have access to it and are using it. I would assume so. I wouldn’t doubt it, man, with what’s at stake,” he said. Graham also believes that players are tempted to use HGH to achieve optimum performance as expected by their teams. “Especially in this game, not having guaranteed contracts you know with so much riding on your performance, a game that tears your body down like that, I would assume that a lot of people are making that decision to use HGH,” Graham said.

Another reason why most NFL players are doing it is the insufficient test being conducted by the league to detect its use. This remark from Graham was also in relation to the case of Dr. Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor who is under investigation for supplying professional athletes with HGH. MLB players such as Mets Jose Reyes, Huston Street of Oakland Athletics and pitcher John Patterson of the Washington Nationals were some of the patients of the doctor. Although these players were treated with other methods to speed up their recovery from the injuries, the involvement of the doctor to human growth hormone and Actovegin raises the possibility that he also prescribed it to his patients.

As Graham said, if players see that the use of HGH can help them in the quick recovery from injuries, they will be influenced to experiment with it. “It gets done by, you know, just knowing a guy. Seeing how it benefits another guy. That’s how it ends up, you know. Most guys don’t have access to it, don’t know how to go about it, probably won’t take the time to check on it. So usually another guy refers it, you know, to someone and that’s how all that starts,” Graham added.

Meanwhile, Broncos quarterback Chris Simms, a former patient of Dr. Galea was also linked to HGH use. Simms admitted that Dr. Galea helped him in his elbow injury in 2007 but denied using the drug. “I’ve never taken HGH and (Actovegin), I’ve never heard of it,” he said. Simms underwent a 3-month plasma therapy with Dr. Galea. “I basically had muscles in my core that were not functioning at all so he got that working right,” Simms told the media. “And then because my core wasn’t working right, my elbow starting hurting because I was throwing all arm. And I did take two plasma shots in my elbow. There’s nothing to hide about it.”

The QB defended the doctor saying that he helped him recover from his elbow injury. “Honestly, he saved my career. He helped me in so many ways. The doctor is truly a great guy and I have no doubt he was not involved in anything shady at all,” he told the DenverPost. He was also disappointed when he was dragged into the controversy. “It’s screwed up. Here I am in the locker room today and everybody’s riding me on it. And now some people are going to have a perception because they see my name next to HGH. It’s a little disheartening,” the quarterback added.

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