Baseball Faces Drug Testing Past and Future December 16, 2004
News Summary
Although the spotlight is on Major League Baseball (MLB) because of players' use of performance-enhancing drugs, this is not the first time that the sport has had to face a drug problem. Back in 1985, the league faced a wave of illicit drug use, but failed to address the issue adequately, the New York Times reported Dec. 12.In 1985, MLB failed to take comprehensive action against cocaine use because of a reluctant union and the unwillingness of owners to single out their own players. Although Peter Ueberroth, baseball commissioner at the time, pushed for a tough drug-testing policy, nothing materialized.
"This was all exposed back in 1985," said J. Alan Johnson, who as a U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh prosecuted a major cocaine case involving ballplayers. "I thought what we did was going to have a big impression. I always assumed that baseball was going to do something, but the ball was really in their court. Certainly, we now have another problem, and even though the drugs are different, it is basically the same subject."
Nineteen years later, and faced with a steroid scandal, baseball commissioner Bud Selig is pushing for a drug-testing policy similar to the one currently used in baseball's minor leagues.
In 2002, the players union and owners agreed to a mandatory drug-testing policy as part of the collective bargaining agreement. Under the policy, testing for steroids was done anonymously and without penalties during the 2003 season. Between 5 and 7 percent of the tests came back positive for steroids. With that percentage rate, the policy calls for penalties and possible disclosure of offending players in 2004 and 2005.
In the wake of the steroid scandal, the Major League Baseball Players Association has agreed to revisit the drug clause in the labor agreement that expires at the end of 2006 to consider stricter testing procedures.
"A lot of people have turned a blind eye to this for a long time, but it's a people issue," said pitcher Al Leiter, who has been active in the union throughout his 19-year major-league career. "It's about health. It's about the commissioner not having a grieving widowed wife in his office saying, 'Why didn't you do something?'"
Major-league players seem more willing to rid the sport of steroid use than they were to tackle illicit drugs in the 1980s. Because steroids are looked upon as changing the competitive balance of the game, many players would welcome a drug-testing policy that evens the playing field.
If the players and owners are unable to reach an agreement on a tougher drug-testing policy, President Bush indicated in his State of the Union address that the federal government might get involved.
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