The legislation recently intended to help curtail steroid use by student-athletes received final legislative approval by the full Assembly by a vote of 74-2 and will now go to the desk of the Governor.

All public school coaches and non-public interscholastic sports, dance, and cheerleading coaches will be required by the bill to incorporate a gender-specific program designed to reduce the use of steroids, alcohol and other drugs and to promote healthy nutrition and exercise into the team’s training regimen.

From NJtoday.net:

The bill (S-834/A-2454) would codify recommendations from the 2005 Governor’s Task Force on Steroid Use and Prevention, establishing measures to deter the use of steroids and other performance enhancing supplements in middle school and high school athletes.

“Many teenage athletes may view steroids as a quick way to get to the top of their game, without thinking about or even being aware of the consequences,” said Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Essex). “Improving how we educate them about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs will help keep them healthy now and years down the road.”

Under the bill, the state Department of Education (DOE) and the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) would work jointly to develop and implement – by the 2010-2011 school year – a program of random steroid testing of student athletes who qualify to compete in championship tournaments sanctioned by the NJSIAA.

“Coaches as well as student athletes need to fully understand the dangers of steroid use and abuse,” said Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Essex). “The earlier we can impress this on our student athletes, the better their health – both mental and physical – will be as adults.”

Tags:  healthy nutrition, performance enhancing supplements, performance-enhancing drugs, Steroid use, steroid-testing, Steroids, use of steroids

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The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has accepted that five Mexican footballers who failed doping tests this year had ingested contaminated meat and should not be punished.

The anti-doping agency said it dropped an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Mexico Football Federation (FMF) decision not to sanction the players.

From Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

“WADA has received compelling evidence from a FIFA study at the under-17 World Cup in Mexico that indicates a serious health problem in Mexico with regards to meat contaminated with clenbuterol,” the anti-doping organisation said in a statement.

“This is a public health issue that is now being addressed urgently by the Mexican government.

“The government of Mexico, which has legislation forbidding the use of steroids with livestock, accepts it has an issue with contaminated meat and is actively looking to resolve the problem state by state,” added WADA.

“Already several arrests have been made pursuant to these laws and large amounts of clenbuterol seized. Investigations are to continue.

“WADA applauds FIFA for the further research it has initiated while WADA, the Mexican Football Federation and the Mexican government have agreed to assist with the study which will continue as a joint project.”

“FIFA would like to express its satisfaction with the decision taken by WADA,” said soccer’s ruling body.

Tags:  clenbuterol, doping tests, FIFA, use of steroids, WADA

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Georges Laraque said he fought not only against the National Hockey League’s toughest players, but also against the use of performance enhancing drugs, in his career spanning 13 years.

“Quite early in my career I started asking the (National Hockey League Players’ Association) to take action against all the performance enhancing drugs some players would use to become bigger in order to stop feeling the pain,” Laraque writes in The Story of the NHL’s Unlikeliest Tough Guy, a new autobiography, excerpts of which were reprinted in the Toronto Star.

From Montrealgazette.com:

“The job was hard and harsh enough not to have to compete against ‘killers’ swollen with steroids. The NHLPA listened to me, but refused to take any action on that front, for obvious political reasons. They wanted to keep drug testing as a card in their negotiations with the league.”

Laraque, who piled up 1,126 penalty minutes as one of the NHL’s most feared fighters, writes that the use of drugs created an uneven playing field for pugilists.

“The use of steroids by tough guys makes it unfair for the ones who decide to remain clean,” he writes.

“In my final years in the NHL, the league finally decided to set clear and precise rules against the use of any performance enhancing drugs,” he writes. “I was relieved, and found it funny how much weight some players had lost in just one year.”

Tags:  Georges Laraque, National Hockey League, performance-enhancing drugs, use of drugs, use of steroids

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The Hall of Fame linebacker, Dick Butkus, who was renowned for playing with a menacing fury, is now expression and passion into the fight against steroids.

Butkus says the link between steroids and sports disgusts me. The former Chicago Bear is handling the problem by delivering a message aimed at high school students on the dangers of doping with his “I Play Clean” campaign.

From in.reuters.com:

Last month’s admission by baseball’s highest-paid player Alex Rodriguez that he had taken steroids from 2001-2003 while with the Texas Rangers, shone the light again on performance-enhancing drugs in sports, something Butkus abhors.

“As an ex-football guy, I still enjoy watching it,” the gruff Butkus told Reuters in a telephone interview.

“It just disgusts me and I hope it doesn’t come to a point where I’m sitting there watching a Senate hearing and have them drilling some ex-football players on their steroids habit,” he said, referring to baseball’s appearance before Congress. “I want to lick this before that happens.”

The NFL has had its share of steroids cheats, notably San Diego Chargers Pro-Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman, suspended for four games in 2006, and now-retired 1997 Defensive Player of the Year Dana Stubblefield, sentenced last month to two years’ probation for lying to investigators about his steroid use.

I have learned over time that use of steroids could result in heart damage among its other dangers, Butkus said.

Tags:  Alex Rodriguez, Dana Stubblefield, Dick Butkus, Hall of Fame, Shawne Merriman, Steroid use, Steroids, steroids and sports, use of steroids

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According to a study led by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE), a high proportion of public school districts have instituted random drug testing beyond sanctions as set by the U.S. Supreme Court.

This study will play an important role in monitoring the occurrence of random drug testing to prevent the use of steroids in sports and schools in the coming times, as per Dr. Chris Ringwalt, Senior Research Scientist at PIRE.

From News-Medical.Net:

Nearly all school districts that implemented random drug testing procedures subjected their athletes to the possibility of being tested, and two-thirds randomly tested high school students who participated in other extracurricular activities. More than a quarter of the districts that implemented random drug testing subjected all their high school students to the possibility of being tested.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that testing student athletes for drugs is constitutional, even in the absence of any suspicion of substance use. In a subsequent case, the Court extended its ruling to include students participating in extracurricular activities.

“Random student drug testing will likely continue to be controversial and the practice is likely to be contested, just as we saw with the recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court,” said Dr. Chris Ringwalt, Senior Research Scientist at PIRE. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled on March 13, 2008, based on a lawsuit that student athletes brought against a local school district, that random drug testing of student athletes is not allowed under the state’s constitution, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1995 ruling (Supreme Court of the State of Washington. York v. Wahkiakum School District No. 200. Docket No: 99-2-00075-6, March 13, 2008).

It is important to note here that more and more young people have been reported using anabolic steroids for building solid muscles and improving the level of performance.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Random drug testing, steroids in sports, use of steroids

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