Prosecute the illegal use of steroids and growth hormones

[realFedUp]

Regarding alleged use of illegal substances by baseball players,
it seems a clear case of prosecution. Who was the junkie?
Who was the seller? Who co-conspired and aided the user? Who trafficked
in the illegal drugs? Users of marijuana and small amounts of crack
cocaine haven’t had to wonder of whether they’ll get into
a Hall of Fame but how many months they’ll live in a Federal prison.
In the era of Big Cheaters, the only way to clean up the mess for
future generations is to prosecute each player and those involved
with very expensive costs to all.

[flvegan]

1. Which ones of the accused in the Mitchell report failed the urine tests?

:popcorn:

[realFedUp]

2. they should take blood tests. nt

[951-Riverside]

3. Let them juice

Why should anyone care their use of 'roids?
What harm does it do to any of us?

[EFerrari]

4. It won't happen because the role of management and owners

would come up. :shrug:

[McCamy Taylor]

5. LOL. Everyone in Hollywood uses these now. Haven't you noticed that all

actors and actresses have changed to mesomorph body types and their chins are getting longer and they no longer get the crepe neck when they age? Everybody in the show biz industry uses grow hormone to stay young and all the men use steroids to beef up before action films.

Pro wrestling is nothing but drugs.

I am betting that people not involved in competitive sports. i.e those play hard for their own ego gratification also use a bunch of the stuff. And doctors can always find some medical justification, since the normal process of aging involves a decrease in growth and testosterone hormones in both sexes.

Give up any thougt of prosecuting users. The most you can do is go after distributors who are not doctors or doctors who prescribe in extreme fashion.

[realFedUp]

10. Having a governor who's been on them....

it's not a surprise, but the same drug laws don't
seem to pertain to governors, wrestlers, pResidents
or baseball players as they do Joe Blow.

[High Plains]

6. No. We have more than enough drug war already.

It's not the state's business what people put in their bodies. And the state certainly should not be able to throw anyone in prison for what they choose to ingest, neither steroid users nor pot smokers nor meth heads.

If MLB has a problem with it, that's a different matter.

[comradebillyboy]

7. Perhaps ending the absurd war on drugs

might be a better idea. I really don't think its the government's job to regulate what adults put into their bodies. I don't care if those guys juice or not. If MLB or a sports league has an issue with steroid use then they can enforce their own rules and not waste public resources on prosecuting yet another victim less crime.

[Ezlivin]

11. Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner

Exactly. The WOD is a spectacular waste of money and a utter failure. Marijuana is just as easy to get today as it was in the seventies. Are cocaine and heroin still available and being used? Check.

The only success the WOD has had is taking money from naïve taxpayers at the tune of around $40,000,000,000 a year. (And you read that figure correctly.)

[KharmaTrain]

8. Those Who Do Get Indicted Will Be On Perjury And Obstruction

I heard a good legal discussion of this mess the other night...the legalities in this situation is a mess. Most of Mitchell's report was based on testimony in court cases, not direct interviews and some of those cases are closing in on the 7-year statue of limitations. Also, since the use of steroids was not illegal for most of the "cheater" era, do you retroactively prosecute for something that wasn't at least illegal by game standards? Is it the game's job to push for justice or is it up to Federal Prosecutors to find the crimes?

There's also the question about when those steroids were used. It appears Roger CLemmens laywer is already running for that loophole. He stated that Clemmens never "juiced" during the season...but leaves open that much of this went on during the off-season and outside both the control and jurisdiction of the team. So where do you go from there?

I suspect we'll get some people who will be investigated...or are currently under investigation and that any revelations that result that implicate other players will be handled in that manner...rather than going after the "roid" use, it would be for lying to juries or refusing to testify.

The good thing about getting this report out now is that its in the dead of winter...many people will forget about this scandal by opening day...especially when it comes to cheering for the home team.

[realFedUp]

9. Most of Mitchell's report wasn't based on interviews...

because the players know that this was illegal behavior
and won't testify themselves because they can be prosecuted.

Thanks for your well written post. I think it's a dirty deal
even though I have no allegiance for B. Bonds, that he is
one of the only guys landing in court...and just on perjury
charges.

Baseball just seems to represent the America we've become...
do anything to win, even cheating, lying, stealing and breaking
the laws. Bush seems to be the best representative of both
baseball and this country right now. Wonder if we can ever
get back to a good feeling about ourselves.

[McCamy Taylor]

12. Barry Bonds set up in same perjury trap as Bill Clinton

The Bush administration has waged a war on Black Folks during election years (see my journal for details) as part of a revived Southern Strategy ever since Katrina lost them the Black vote forever and ever. Pat Buchanan spilled the beans on Countdown with KO.

The perjury trap is get somebody before a leaky grand jury and force them to talk about something that, if revealed in the public, would be damaging. In Clinton's case it was adultery. In Bond's case it was steroids. Assume that fear of having damaging info leaked to the public will outweigh all other considerations. Once the testimony is given, leak the info. In Bonds case, there was a criminal leak from the grand jury to two newspaper reporters who wrote a book, in which they accused Bonds of lying. The federal prosecutors, whose leaky grand jury enabled the reporters to write their book, were then able to use the media attention to claim a groundswell of support for a perjury investigation. However, the real purpose for the grand jury leak was to set the stage for a perjury investigation, which they had insufficient evidence to pursue, but could start if they could get the news media on the case.

The two reporters allowed themselves to be used as so many reporters allowed themselves to be used in the Monicagate case by Ken Starr's criminally leaky grand jury, because they wanted the fame and money that went from writing the book.

The federal prosecutors wanted to indict a high profile Black Man, because every time a Black Man was proved to have gotten ahead by cheating or was convicted of a sex crime against a white woman this angered the White racist Republican base and made them more likely to turn out to vote.

I can not understand why no one has noticed the parallel between Susan McDougall's incarceration and the jailing of Bond's friend to try to force evidence out them. Or the same rhetoric "It isn't the sex, it's the perjury. "It isn't the steroids, it's the perjury."

Charges have been filed now, because Karl Rove and Co. want their base to see a wealthy, powerful Black man being brought down in the run up to the 2008 election. The implication will be that if the Barry Bond's had not used steroids, then baseball would have remained pure. Obviously, Bonds must have been some kind of ring leader, some steroid mafioso don, otherwise federal prosecutors would not be targeting. Just as the feds must have targeted Michael Vicks for dog fighting because he was the head honcho of dog fighting for the whole US--never mind that dog fighting was a White sport before it ever crossed the color lines. And OJ Simpson is the only rich guy to ever get away with murder (whatever you do, do not look up Cullen Davis. The MSM does not want to talk about him.) Adnd Wesley Snipes is the only celebrity not to have paid his taxes.

The big question is how come no one has asked Nolan Ryan of George W. Bush's Texas Rangers how he was able to pitch so long? Is it because of who he is and whom he worked for? When your legal system has two standards based upon who the parties are, then it is not a legal system, it is a criminal racket in itself. Just like in Bush v. Gore .

But I know that the sports news commentators are going to be thirsting for Barry Bonds' blood, because they have to nail someone to a cross, if baseball is going to atone for its sins, and in the United States, it is always a Black man who pays in the end.

[otherlander]

13. I don't think it should be illegal.

I think the government should allow people to put any shit into their own bodies that they want to.

But if you're using them to cheat at a game, you should definitley be fired and not put into the Hall of Fame.

[aikoaiko]

14. steroids shouldn't be illegal -- better to regulate via medical profession.

its time.