MAJOR LEAGUE DOPING

DRUG POLICY DOUBLE-STANDARD

Mark McGwire and Randy Barnes are both American athletes at the top of
their chosen sport. Both were using a drug in the U.S. that is legal there.
Barnes, an Olympic champion shotputter, gets a lifetime suspension from
international track and field for a second steroid offence, while McGwire
gets a shrug and continued adulation from baseball fans.

Why the discrepancy between U.S. and government drug regulators in other
countries? And why the discrepancy between Major League Baseball, the
National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association - none of
which have drug-testing policies - and every other major sport governing
body in the world, including the National Football League? There is more to
this saga of drug policies than the obvious double standard in testing.
It's a matter of international opinion vs the American marketplace.

The 1994 U.S. Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act opened up
business for many "nutriceuticals" without the rigorous Food and Drug
Administration testing that usually accompanies drugs. The adrenal sex
steroid DHEA, which can be converted to testosterone via a two-step process
(the intermediate is androstenedione), fell into this category. Then U.S.
sport supplement companies came upon the East German secret weapon:
androstenedione. They got this powerful testosterone precursor approved as
a dietary supplement with little scrutiny in 1996, since DHEA was already
there. The irony is that most of the raw chemicals for these drugs now come
from Germany, where it is legal to export them but illegal to sell drug
preparations containing them.

Now the onus is on the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to prove they are
steroids. The DEA is trying to obtain data that would define them as
steroids according to the Anabolic Steroid Act of 1990: that they are
chemically related to testosterone (yes) and have muscle anabolic
properties (probably). It could face challenges from many parties that have
developed a financial interest in preventing this action suspended
athletes, the supplement industry and sports organizations.

Both Barnes and McGwire used the same arguments: it's natural and safe and
not a steroid because it's legal - all the usual supplement industry
propaganda. The fact that it's legal doesn't seem to matter so far for
Barnes. In McGwire's case, maybe it's not that simple.

Whether or not you think androstenedione is a steroid, the Canadian legal
system treats it as such. It is a criminal offence to seek and obtain
anabolic steroids without a personal directive or prescription. There are
no known medically approved uses for androstenedione. Still, there are
rarely prosecutions for possession or even importation of anabolic steroids
in Canada, unless it appears to be for further distribution.

So far no androstenedione has been confiscated from Toronto Blue Jay Jose
Canseco, even though he initially said he's been using it for the past six
months, we have a good idea what product he's probably using (Andro-6 from
EAS of Colorado, since he appears in their ads in magazines in Canada and
the U.S.), Blue Jays staff are no doubt aware now that it's illegal here
and the RCMP have been informed. EAS advertise Andro-6 using pictures of
mock track athletes and medals, saying it's the natural, legal alternative
to anabolic steroids. They don't point out that it can result in a positive
drug test.

U.S. major league sports - except the NFL - allegedly rely on the laws of
the relevant country for drug policy, which in this case makes it an absurd
double standard. Baseball and its American commentators justify the use of
androstenedione based on its legality. But part of their jurisdiction is
Canada. Does McGwire never play in Montreal? If Canada Customs agents find
androstenedione in McGwire's luggage, will he be suspended? Is it okay if
Colorado Rocky Dante Bichette uses it but not Canadian teammate Lany Walker?

Practically speaking, U.S. law seems to apply here, which means that
Americans playing here enjoy a double standard with regard to Canadian drug
laws. It's unlikely baseball players like McGwire or Canseco, known users
of androstenedione, will be inspected upon entering Canada.

The Blue Jays just put creatine and androstenedione on their list of
non-recommended supplements. One's legal, the other one's not. Will Blue
Jays' trainers now just pretend it's not there or tell players to hide it?
After all, the penalty is only confiscation. This smacks of the usual
conspiracy of silence we heard about 10 years ago from Charlie Frances, Ben
Johnson's former coach.

It's time to harmonize and toughen international drug laws pertaining to
steroids so that they are clear and enforceable. Either that, or major
league sports should get a real drug policy.

Steve Wall coaches athletics and has an educational background in
endocrinology and kinesiology.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski