The Australian Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) caught East Pert Royals midfielder Dean Cadwallader for using a banned substance in May 2010. However, the West Australian Football League Tribunal made its final decision last Thursday. The football player will be banned from the sports up to June 2012. Cadwallader appealed the case hoping that the league will at least reduce the sanction.

The midfielder was caught using nandrolone, a type of anabolic steroid that helps develop muscles. This substance is included in the banned list of the World Anti-Doping Agency. ASADA and WAFL follow the anti-doping code of WADA. The confirmatory test using the B sample also returned a positive result. Cadwallader already issued an apology to his team, fans and family when news about the positive steroid test came out publicly.

Chairman Paul Heaney, head of WAFL tribunal, told the media that Cadwallader is not entitled to a reduction of penalty because of his negligence. The young football player told the league that he took the drug because he wants to increase his weight. However, he did not make any inquiries as to whether the substance is banned or not. “It is clearly not a case where it can be said that player Cadwallader has established that he bears no significant fault or negligence for his violation,” Heaney said.

Cadwallader’s dream of making it to the Australian Football League (AFL) was shattered because of the two year suspension. His intention of gaining weight through supplements caused the demise of his promising career. According to Heaney, Cadwallader admitted that he took the drug to become eligible to the AFL draft.

Another official of the WAFL said that the league strictly followed the anti-doping policy in hearing the case of the East Perth Royals midfielder. According to WAFL’s OIC Operations Manager Steve Hargrave, the decision of the league should serve as a reminder to football players that using inappropriate drugs in sport will cause them great harm. “The WAFL will continue to enhance upon its drug education program delivered to clubs each year. We are in close consultation with key partners such as the AFL, DSR, Sports Medicine Australia and ASADA in our ongoing development of the WAFL drug education program,” Hargrave added.

Performance enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids or human growth hormones has no place in football. Players who will be caught using these banned substances will meet harsh punishment from their sports organizations. “Like all sporting organisations we can’t emphasize enough that each individual, regardless of their chosen sport or status, must take control and full responsibility for their own actions in this area,” said Hargrave.

The InmyCommunity website also reported that the career of Swan Districts defender Travis Casserly is also at stake. Anti-doping officials found a banned substance in his system after the grand final game against Claremont. However, this substance is present in a cold medication.

As steroid-testing among Texas high school student-athletes is being feared to be abolished, a new education program is on the rise. The Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and Taylor Hooton Foundation have partnered to offer this program to cover Arlington Independent School District (ISD).

The said comprehensive education program is geared to educate the students in terms of the dangers of using performance-enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. Chuck Greenberg, CEO and managing partner of Rangers, said that this program includes presentations targeting all Arlington ISD middle and high school students. However, there is no indication yet that this program will be reaching out the other districts of Texas. “It’s a wonderful and one of the most important causes you will be involved with in your lives. It’s important to play clean and win clean,” Greenberg told a group of students during the launch of this program.

Hooton Foundation President Don Hooton says that the use of anabolic steroids remains to be a growing problem of today’s youth. He added that the best way to defeat this problem is through education.

According to Without the Juice, a website promoting the dangers of this kind of drug, the school assemblies that will be called for by this program will be a very effective way to give everyone the knowledge of the dangers of steroids. And since non-athletes and young girls belong to the group of the fastest growing steroid-users, reaching the schools will guarantee that every young girl and boy will learn how to deal with the roots of this problem.

For instance, kids know that steroids are not only performance -boosters but also appearance-enhancers. With peer pressure pushing the youth to use steroids, they must be guided through education in terms of how to resist this kind of motivation.

The decrease in the budget for steroid-testing is almost encouraging the state to call off the testing program like how Florida has discontinued the same testing program for similar reasons. As of 2010-2011 budgeting, the program is reported to be allotted only $150,000, which can accommodate 4,560 athletes only. Back in 2008, Texas tested 700,000 student-athletes under a $6 million budget. The apparent decrease in the budget for steroid-testing is known to be associated with the small number of confirmed cases of students using steroids.

However, Hooton said to the Associated Press that the steroid-testing program is a preventive measure. If it is eliminated, it will only encourage steroid use among student-athletes. He added that even if the positive cases are low, it does not mean that the problem is already eliminated. He even compared the situation to a scenario where a school district has a serious gun violence problem. As a preventive measure, the district puts up metal detectors. But when the gun violence rate falls, they take away the metal detectors saying that putting them up is just a waste of money.

Meanwhile, Green Valley High School Principal attacks the funding excuse of the state to eliminate steroid testing. His school is the first in Nevada to submit into a drug-testing program in 2008. Though the school has zero positive result since then, they are firm about continuing the program. He said that steroid-testing is not only a concern of the athletes anymore but a matter of saving lives of the youth as well.

The jury is set to hear Barry Bonds’ plea for the third time since the time he was charged in 2007 for steroid use. Entering a third plea comes necessary because of a revised indictment that cut the player’s charges to five from a total of 11. The arraignment is set to happen on March 1.

Susan Illston, U.S. district judge, ordered Bonds’ submission into a third plea. This is in accordance with the filing of the prosecutors of a new indictment, giving Bonds five charges instead of the original 11. This includes four counts of lying to the grand jury in connection with his steroid use and one count for obstruction of justice, which happened December 2003. The trial will follow on scheduled date March 21.

On arraignment day, Bonds is set to plead not guilty to the charges filed against him. The indictments against Bonds are purely relied heavily on lying about taking steroids so that he can keep his home run records. Plus, he allegedly lied about getting the drugs from his trainer, Greg Anderson.

Meanwhile, Anderson is ordered by the court to report the same day of Bond’s arraignment. The order was sent out so that he can be asked again whether he still refuses to be a witness against Bonds or not. On earlier cases, Anderson held it firm that he will not testify against the former baseball player. Mark Geragos, his lawyer, states that Anderson will not be amending his position.

Illston added that if Anderson will not testify during Bonds’ trial, he will be charged contempt of court. It can be remembered that the trainer has already served a brief prison term in 2005 after pleading guilty to dealing steroids. He also served more than a year in prison after being charged contempt of court when he did not cooperate when the government was starting to investigate Bonds’ case.

However, despite Anderson’s refusal to testify against Bonds, he is still expected to have a huge part in the trial. Even if he is not saying a word to the jury, other witnesses in the trial are expected to mention his name and his actions in their testimonies. There are already former league players including Major Leaguer Jason Giambi who will be called to the witness stand. The prosecutors are expecting these witnesses to tell them whether Anderson is the supplier of steroids or not.

Moreover, Bonds’ side is requesting the jury to not accept the recording of Bond’s ex-business partner Stevie Hoskins and Anderson of their conversation regarding the player’s alleged steroid use. This said recording was recorded by Hoskins in March 2003 while inside the San Francisco Giants locker room while having a conversation with Anderson.

Though the recording can be talking about Bonds’ steroid use, Bonds’ lawyers are making an effort to request the jury to exclude it from the pool of evidences. This is because as long as Anderson refuses to testify, the recording cannot be authenticated. Plus, the attorneys claim that though it can be proven that the conversation was about steroids, the conversation can still revolve around legal substances.

Stockton Police Officer Darrin Fagundes, being suspected of steroid trafficking, was arrested January 13 in Lathrop. Together with him, Anthony Kubena of Brentwood, was also arrested in one of their steroid trafficking transactions in a parking lot in the said location. Today, the Police Department is getting into a more serious investigation regarding steroid trafficking to check if there are other officers of the law who are involved in this kind of crime.

The focus of the wider investigation is to find answers in terms of possible officers who must be caught up in line with this crime and also to find indicators of this crime that the department has missed earlier on. Blair Ulring, police chief of the Stockton Police Department, said that they have a lot of questions regarding the incident including how this happened and what the signs are of this crime.

However, Ulring said that the answers will not be revealed yet because they are still in the course of the investigation. He told the The Record that the answers will only be made public once the criminal and internal investigations are already completed.

Both Fagundes and Kubena, despite their presence in San Joaquin County Superior Court last February 4, did not entered a plea. Fagundes arraignment was scheduled February 7 while Kubena has a preliminary hearing this April.

Fagundes was already under a long surveillance by the vice unit of the Stockton Police Department. The surveillance was running for more or less a month already prior to his arrest. When he was finally arrested together with Kubena, there is a huge quantity of steroids found in Fagundes’ vehicle. The steroids confiscated from the two suspects are a total of eight glass vials labeled separately with testosterone and nandrolone decanoate. Both steroids are known to promote rapid muscle growth in men. However, both steroids are also controlled substances in the United States. Meaning, if you are caught having these steroids without a physician’s prescription, you are already breaking the law. They are later charged because of two reasons. One is for steroid use and the other is for selling the drugs.

Prior to the arrest, Fagundes and Kubena were found meeting twice. Once was on December 28 outside of Bentwood’s Delta Valley Athletic Club. The second one was on the same day of their arrest in Tracy at around 2 p.m.

Following the arrests, a search warrant was obtained for Fagundes’ home. The officers seized ammunition, firearms, cell phone, computers, and his police badge. After serving the Stockton Police Department for around three years, he is now on paid administrative leave starting from his arrest day and will go on as long as the investigations are proceeding.

The abuse and trafficking of anabolic steroids are widespread already among law enforcement officers. Ulring reported that the danger of this kind of crime is not only limited to steroid’s side effects. It also has a deeper impact to both ethical and moral compromise of the law officers and law enforcement agencies.

Roger Clemens is not wasting time as the steroid perjury trial nears. The court recently requested the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to provide them important documents related to the steroid hearing conducted in 2008. This was confirmed by Kurt Bardella, the spokesperson of the committee. “The committee will consult with the House General Counsel Office and will meet its obligation,” he said.

However, it is not yet clear whether the committee will comply with the subpoena since they already refused to a previous request made by Clemens’ camp. They contend that turning these documents to the court would violate the separation of powers between the legislative and judiciary.

The Daily News reported that Clemens want to obtain interview summaries, notes and memoranda from the proceedings in 2008. Though the testimonies and information were already made public by the committee in 2008, lawyers of Roger Clemens wants to hold a copy of the communications between congressional investigators and other individuals called to that investigation.

The inquiry which was lead by Rep. Henry Waxman called Clemens to testify on the accusations that his former trainer Brian McNamee injected him with steroids and human growth hormones. Clemens categorically denied that he knowingly used anabolic steroids. However, lawmakers were not convinced about his testimony which then led to the filing of charges against the pitcher.

The Canadian Press listed the particular documents or information needed by Clemens. This is aside from the testimonies of Jose Canseco, Chuck Knoblauch, C.J. Nitkowski, Andy Pettitte, and Brian McNamee.

— former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, who McNamee said provided drugs he used to inject Clemens.

— Clemens agent Jim Murray.

— Pettitte’s wife, Laura, and Canseco’s ex-wife, Jessica Fisher.

— Blue Jays trainer Melvin Thomas Craig, assistant athletic trainer Scott Shannon, Dr. Ron Taylor and orthopedist Allan Gross.

— Houston Astros assistant athletic trainer Rex Jones, doctor David Lintner and head athletic trainer David Labossiere.

— Red Sox medical director Dr. Arthur Pappas.

— Yankees head trainer Eugene Monahan.

— two medical experts consulted by committee staff — Dr. Frederick W. Burgess, the former president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine and Dr. Mark Murphey, chief of musculoskeletal radiology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

Judge Reggie Walton also issued subpoena on documents from George Mitchell investigation in 2007 per request of Clemens legal team. The Mitchell Report already named Clemens as one of the baseball players involved in the use of performance enhancing drugs. According to Hardin, the lawyers of the Mitchell panel also refused to provide them confidential information because of lawyer-client relationship and lawyer work-product privileges.

Judge Reggie Walton hopes to settle these issues on March 14. However, if the lawyers from these committees question the subpoena, the case could be elevated to court of appeals which may further delay the trial on July. The documents from these steroid hearings are important because Clemens’ legal team believe it can weaken the case against the CY Young awardee.

Roger Clemens refused to enter into a plea deal in August and continues to affirm his innocence in the use of steroid or human growth hormone. He is facing 6 felony counts including perjury, making false statements and obstructing of Congress.

There is no existing policy that prohibits football players from endorsing supplement products or companies. However, the league was alarmed because of reports that a supplement company is selling products with ingredients banned by the sports organization. Some of its players are also endorsing the product.

Last month, Hue Jackson, the new coach of Oakland Raiders, was ordered to stop endorsing a supplement company that distributes a product containing a growth hormone precursor. The league prohibits coaches in endorsing a company or manufacturer selling supplement products.

The league also announced recently that they have already sent notices to all football players to stop any endorsement or connection with the company producing the product. The league spokesperson Brian McCarthy told the Associated Press that the NFL is currently investigating the issue. The league is still verifying the allegation that the product in question really contains a banned by-product of human growth hormone.

The supplement tainted with a banned ingredient is one of the products of Sports With Alternative To Steroids (S.W.A.T.S.). This company offer professional athletes products which they claim as steroid-free. However, one of their products contains IGF-1 (Insulin-like growth factor 1).

According to Elisabeth Quinn of About.com, IGF-1 is a naturally-occurring polypeptide protein hormone similar to insulin that is primarily produced by the liver. “IGF-1 plays an important role in stimulating growth during childhood and helps build and repair muscle tissue in adults,” she said. This is the reason why the National Football League prohibits players from using this substance because of its performance enhancing effects.

Other benefits of IGF-1 supplementation includes improvements in muscle hypertrophy, tissue repair and recovery time. After its discovery in the 1990’s, several manufacturers offered nutritional supplements containing IGF-1.

But if this supplement contains a banned substance, several football players should fail in the anti-doping test. SWATS owner Mitch Ross claimed that he’s been supplying coaches and players since 2008 but only one player complained about their product. Rams linebacker David Vobora sued the company in 2009 because he alleged that his positive steroid test was due to the “The Ultimate Spray.”

In the PostGame.com report, Ross was quoted how he distributes the supplement products to coaches and players in the league. “In April of ’08 I gave various alternatives to steroids, including spray, to Hue Jackson at the Ravens’ training camp. I also gave the spray to Jay Hayes of the Bengals and Anthony Lynn of the Jets. I want to prove that my protocol reverses the aging process on aging athletes and promotes the healing of injuries in a legal manner,” said Ross.

SWATS owner also provided text messages confirming his transactions with Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis. Sports analysts are now asking questions whether the league can really detect the substance. According to Ross, he was able to sent 25 bottles of spray to Lewis over the past two seasons. Bengals safety Roy Williams also acknowledged using the spray. However, both players never tested positive for a banned substance.