It started with the arrest of a football player who was in possession of banned substances and allegedly distributes these anabolic steroids and HGH to athletes in different universities. Other football players were also arrested. The University of Waterloo put the entire football team on mandatory steroid test and when the result came out, the University decided to suspend the entire football team this season. The main reason is the large number of players who turned positive or confessed for using anabolic steroids.

The action of UW is plausible because they have to protect the interest of the student athletes and the same time the name of the school. However, others say that the move is too late. They should have prevented the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs if they have strictly monitored their students and implemented comprehensive policies on doping. The university is not alone in the blame, the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) and the CCES (Canada Center for Ethics and Sports) were also part of the problem because of weak anti-doping policies. They have existing anti-doping policies but experts say that the implementation was not good enough to deter athletes from using anabolic steroids and other banned substances.

Marg McGregor, the CEO of CIS said in an interview that they are keen in determining the extent of the steroid problem in universities across the country but admitted that it will take time. “Certainly the CIS is not taking the view that this is an isolated incident. Our historical track record of positive infractions would show that there are other schools over the years that have had positive doping infractions. So it would be naive of us to simply dismiss this a couple of bad apples at Waterloo,” she said.

The president and chief executive officer of the CCES, Paul Mella also expressed his concern on the issue. He agreed that it is a wake up call for the authorities to review their policies and implementation of the anti-doping programs. “I think it’s definitely a wake-up call. It will force us at the CCES to look at how we apply the limited resources we have for university sports and it’s going to require a rethink on what’s the most effective way to reduce the use of performance-enhancing drugs,” he said.

He also added that the incident in University of Waterloo could damage the integrity of the sport. “We came off the Vancouver Olympics and it was a wonderful experience. We won medals and celebrated exuberantly because no medal-winning, Canadian athletes were caught cheating but like what happened with Ben Johnson, it feels this university situation is reminiscent of just how much damage a few athletes can do to sports and how we feel about it,” Mella said.

Sports authorities should adopt the standards used by WADA and intensify its testing of students athletes for anabolic steroids, human growth hormones and other performance enhancing drugs. In order to deter students from taking supplements, they should implement not just random testing but in and out of competition tests as well.

The current anti-doping policies of state athletic commissions has been criticized for not coping up with the latest technology and methods to catch cheating athletes. Athletes especially in combat sports like boxing and mixed martial arts are required to undergo urine testing to know whether they are taking any banned substances. However, urine testing for steroids and other PED’s is not enough since there are other substances which cannot be detected in urine samples. Human growth hormone or HGH is one of those drugs that can only be traced with the use of blood testing.

The call for a tougher policy on doping was started by Floyd Mayweather Jr. when he asks his opponents to undergo an Olympic style blood testing. His fight with Manny Pacquiao was stalled due to unresolved terms related to the blood testing but Shane Mosley agreed. Some UFC players also urge other players to take an Olympic style blood testing to disprove allegation of steroid use.

Experts suggest that athletic commissions such as NSAC, where most combat sports were held, should adopt both urine and blood testing. This is to ensure that all types of designer steroids will be traced and it will serve as a deterrent to cheating athletes. In the monthly meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, anti-doping experts were invited to share their insights and suggestions on how to prevent athletes from using performance enhancing drugs to gain competitive advantage. According to MMAJunkie, some of the prominent people invited in the meeting were Travis Tygart, the chief of USADA and Robert Voy, the former chief medical officer for the United States Olympic Committee.

Both panelists suggested that tougher policies and new methods of testing should be adopted to be more effective in cleaning the sports of performance enhancers. “If you want to have an effective program, you at least have to have the right to do both (referring to urine and blood testing),” Tygart said. “Everybody with a heartbeat now knows [human growth hormone] is only detected in blood. It will be a free-for-all, if it’s not already, for human growth hormone use if you don’t have the right to at least collect blood,” he added. The chief of USADA believes that tougher programs will serve as a deterrent but failure to implement this will send a laud message to athletes to cheat since they know that they will not be caught.

Robert Voy told NSAC officials to be proactive in dealing with performance enhancing drugs. “This business of testing for performance-enhancing drugs is going to be in the future a never-ending situation. There are people that insist upon – either through science or in some way – finding an advantage in a sport, particularly in a professional sport where the awards are financial. We’ll always have to have an open-ended list of performance-enhancing drugs and always be looking for the new substances,” Voy said.

The anti-doping experts also expressed their concerns on designer steroids which are sometimes undetected by existing testing methods. Athletes will be tempted to use drugs such as HGH and Erythropoietin (EPO) or other methods such as gene doping and blood transfusions. “You can’t specifically list every drug that would fall in the category of anabolic steroids. That’s the designer steroid issue. Secondly, the commission doesn’t prohibit methods that aren’t drugs,” said Tygart.

Voy also said that using an anabolic steroid or a performance-enhancing drug that increases unfairly the individual’s opportunity to gain endurance, muscular strength, etc., is a risk to the health of the participants in the sport. He also likened the use of anabolic steroids to a criminal act.

Tygart on the other hand, urges the NSAC to adopt a similar policy with USADA. Aside from adopting both urine and blood testing, 24-hour notice to athletes should be remove and instead implement a random anytime testing. Funding should not be a problem for the commission because they can re-allocate resources and generate funds from big events such as pay-per-view and other fund generating projects.

The Ontario University Athletics football conference has already discussed changes on its 2010 game schedule after the University of Waterloo pulled out its team from the competition due to the alarming result of the steroid tests. The university decided to suspend the Waterloo Warriors football team from playing in the next season while they are conducting internal investigation on the matter. Although not all football players who returned a positive test or confessed taking banned substances were named, the large number is a major concern for the university. Of the 62 players tested for steroids, 9 players tested positive, confessed or did not follow the protocol.

UW vice-president of academics Feridun Hamdullahpur said that the positive tests were just too many and they want to send a strong message to student athletes. “For all new students coming to Waterloo to study and also participate in athletics, this had to be heard loud and clear.” He said that using banned substances will not be tolerated by the school.

After the announcement on Monday, some football players and coaches were disappointed with the decision of the school administration. They argued that the entire team should not be punished for the violations committed by some players. However, the school is already committed to know the real problem in the football team especially on the use of performance enhancing drugs. Hamdullahpur said that they are standing by the decision and added that it has the support of the university of Waterloo President David Johnston and the Board of Governors of the university. “It was a tough decision. It was the right decision,” said Hamdullahpur.

UW athletic director Bob Copeland also supports the decision of the university. “We categorically and fully support all the sanctions. We need to take a step back with our football program before we can go forward,” said Copeland. The athletic director empathizes with the players but they have to understand that the university wants to protect the health of the students and also concerned about the reputation of the institution. “Sometimes the actions of a few affect many. This is bigger than the football team. It’s about the health of the students and the integrity of the institution. We hope this sends a strong message to other programs,” Copeland told The Record.

The investigation will focus on how steroids, HGH and other banned substance were able to seep into the university football team. Part of the objectives of the investigation is on how to prevent the same problem from happening again. The findings are expected to be finalized end of summer. Copeland said that the team will be back in competition in 2011 season.

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport revealed that there are 4 admissions of use, 3 positive tests, 1 refused test and 1 pending case because of an on-going police investigation. Linebacker Joe Surgenor is one of those who admitted that he is using the anabolic steroid winstrol.

Another linebacker Jordan Meredith tested positive for a banned substance. Anti-doping authorities found in his system Tamoxifen. This drug is commonly used by athletes after steroid cycles to avoid the side effects of steroids. Meredith already waived his right for a hearing and admitted to his doping. Surgenor and Meredith both received 2-year suspension. The names of other players were withheld because of drug management protocol that should be observed. Under the rules, athletes should be notified first of their rights and options before releasing their names to the public. They can still contest the result.

After fighting for his innocence for more than 3 years, a former pharmacy owner in Colorado Springs was sentenced to 40 months in prison plus forfeiture of his properties. The former owner and operator of College Pharmacy at 3505 Austin Bluffs Parkway in Colorado Springs Thomas Bader was convicted for illegally importing and distributing human growth hormone from China. Included in the charges is his distribution of testosterone to bodybuilders around the country even without valid prescriptions from physicians. He was indicted in August 2007 but did not entered into a plea deal with the government.

Bader was hoping that he would be able to clear his name. He maintained his stand that he did not violated certain laws but a jury convicted him on February and U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger handed down the verdict last week. Bader was found guilty of conspiracy, smuggling and distribution of human growth hormones and possession with the intent to distribute anabolic steroids.

The 66 year old College Pharmacy owner said that he did not know that he was doing something illegal. “Had I known that what I was doing was illegal, I wouldn’t have done it. I thought I was following the law, but I stand before you convicted,” said Bader. He told the judge that he just wanted to clear his name. “I am faced with losing everything that I have worked for my entire life. I don’t think it’s deserved,” he added.

His lawyer, Charles H. Torres said that they will still appeal the conviction. He believed that the laws used as the basis for the conviction of his client were not clear. “I think this area of the law is extremely unsettled,” Torres said to the Gazette. “It’s too bad Mr. Bader had to be the first to deal with this uncertainty.”

However, this was disputed by the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaime Peña said that the former pharmacy owner’s criminal conduct is clear and repetitive. “This was blatant criminal conduct over a period of time. Ultimately, this comes down to making money,” Peña concluded. “He may have been at the end of his career, but he was going to cash out,” Pena said.

Aside from the 40 months prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger also imposed the forfeiture of $4.8 million worth of assets of Thomas Bader. The court believes that these were obtained through the sale and distribution of HGH and anabolic steroids. “Mr. Bader is a good man but like most of us he is neither a hero or a villain or a victim,” judge Krieger told the people in the courtroom. “He is a person who has made choices and whom the law holds accountable for those choices,” she added.

Bader’s camp was able to convince the court to dismiss 24 charges but his sentencing was based on the remaining 8 counts. Judge Krieger respected the sincerity of Bader in challenging the regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on HGH by filing two civil lawsuits. However, the importation of Bader of human growth hormones from China and distributing it in the country can be considered as drug manufacturing. Thus, he should be subject to inspection and regulations of federal agencies in charge of monitoring and regulating this industry.

The welfare of the public is also at stake because he was operating without any supervision from regulatory agencies. “This is a case about a failure to recognize what regulations apply and to comply with them when they disagreed with what he thought the law should be. This is a case about arrogance and greed,” judge Krieger concluded.

The recent decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting the admission of new evidences against the baseball slugger Barry Bonds is another blow to the prosecution. The Appeals Court agreed with the ruling of the district Court that new evidences can’t be presented in the perjury case without the testimony of Barry Bonds former trainer. The case filed against Bonds in December 2007 was in relation to his alleged lying to a federal inquiry about his use of performance enhancing drugs.

Bonds could be facing up to 5 years in prison for each of the 14 counts of perjury. He was also charged with obstruction of justice and temporarily released for $500,000 personal recognizance bond. Bonds maintained his position that he never took any performance enhancing drugs and he did not lied to the grand jury.

Although the prosecution was able to get concrete evidences that will prove Bonds was involved in the use of banned substances while playing in the Major League, they can’t pin down the slugger for some technicality. They want to include in the case the urine samples, diaries and schedules detailing Bonds’ steroid use. These evidences were allegedly kept by Anderson. However, Greg Anderson refused to testify against Bonds during the preliminary hearing.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who handles the case, ruled that the prosecutors for the federal government could not present the evidence without corroborating testimony from Anderson. The decision of the trainer not to testify caused him to spend some time in jail. In the previous interviews, the trainer still maintains his decision not to talk about Bonds’ use of performance enhancing drugs.

Bonds was one of the players aside from Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi who were called during the BALCO investigation in 2003. He categorically denied that he took any anabolic steroids, testosterone or human growth hormone. Moreover, Bonds insisted that he was never injected any of these banned substances from the period of 2000 up to 2002. Anderson was also implicated in the investigation and Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative was also jailed for illegal distribution and sale of designer steroids. Conte is also fighting his case against Shane Mosley who was also one of his former clients.

Barry Bonds broke the home run records with 762 homers. He took a leave from the sport when charges were filed against him. His previous team is optimistic that Bonds will be back soon preferably as a coach. The impressive record of the former Giants had a very little chance of being included into the Hall of Fame because of his alleged steroid use.

Now that the case is remanded to the district court, Bonds’ camp could be seeing a clear victory in the perjury case. However, this may not happen too soon since the prosecution can still go to the Supreme Court and ask for a final decision on the issue.

Political opponents of Senatoriable Linda McMahon know that the former CEO of WWE is a strong contender. The campaign strategies of some focused on the weaknesses of other candidates and McMahon is not spared from that. Anyway she is one of the most vulnerable target because of the many issues that her company was involved particularly steroids. The aspiring senator has been in the headlines for many weeks now because of her controversial memorandum to one of her employees, the steroid related charges of his husband, Vince McMahon. And now, the deposition of Linda McMahon goes public.

The statement of the former CEO of WWE about the role of Dr. Zahorian in doping their wrestlers becomes an issue again. She said that she had little interaction with the doctor who was convicted of prescribing illegal anabolic steroids. Again her lawyer came to the rescue by clarifying to the media what McMahon was trying to explain. Jerry McDevitt said that McMahon did not mean that they have no knowledge at all of the activities of Dr. Zahorian. “She was talking about what was going on at the arenas,” said McDevitt who is the lead lawyer for the McMahons during the deposition in 2007.

However, a sportswriter covering the wrestling arena for more than 2 decades reacted on the statement of Linda McMahon. Irv Muchnik said that the idea that the McMahons had no idea that Zahorian was pushing drugs at arenas in Pennsylvania, just before shows at which he was the state athletic commission-appointed ringside doctor, is laughable. There were evidences that the doctor distributed steroids to wrestlers at WWF TV tapings in the 1980’s. Muchnik noted that FedEx slips addressed to wrestlers and Vince McMahon were about steroid deliveries. Some of the wrestlers who were named in the list include Hulk Hogan, Danny Spivey and James Hellwig.

In the report of The Day, the former CEO told the House Committee on Oversight and Investigations that they implemented policies to safeguard the health of their wrestlers. However, McMahon was not surprised about the high number of wrestlers using steroids when they resumed testing in 2006. Another reason why they stop the implementation of drug testing was the low number of incidents of positive results and the absence of anti-doping policy of their competitor WCW or World Championship Wrestling. “We were pleased with the results. It was just no longer cost effective to random test across the large pool of talent that we had,” she said.

She also replied that an absence of anti-steroid program could give an advantage just like what the WCW was doing at that time. “They also had much more money to attract our talent, but if our talent knew that they were with us and they were tested and they were going to be positive, and they could go someplace else and not be tested, that was attractive on one measure for them,” she said.

McMahon defended WWE steroid policy of informing first the wrestler before giving sanctions. “The testing is not a ‘gotcha’ policy but a broader attempt to instill a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “We are not the police. I am not looking to catch you. I am looking to tell you that if you are doing this, to stop,” McMahon added.

Let us just wait if these would affect the popularity of Linda McMahon. She may be a successful entrepreneur but the way she handled internal problems and policies is in question. Some would say that McMahon resorted to unethical decisions for the interest of their company. Would she allow this to happen again once elected in the Senate?