Steroid News
News bot on steroids
Leaving aside the idea that Americas professional sports leagues can simply set the rules strictly when it comes to legalizing drugs (theyre already mired in trouble trying to define no-tolerance) its worth considering Cubans argument; the outspoken owner reportedly said steroids could have a place in sports if they were:
1.) Administered by a doctor
2.) Used to help athletes recover from injuries, and
3.) Come with no risk of long-term health effects.
At first those seem like some pretty big pre-conditions, but in fact Cuban is not so much forward-thinking here as he is behind the times.
Doctors were probably administering performance-enhancing drugs to pro athletes even as Cuban spoke. Doctors can be bought - consider Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor who got busted in 2006 and whose work is only still coming to light this week (see here). Our own country is full of doctors with DEA licenses and evangelical attitudes about the same hormones that are banned in pro sports. Its clearly not hard to find health-care providers who speak openly about prescribing steroids: we did (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2009/10/07/2009-10-07_steroids.html, and http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/03/15/2008-03-15_houstonarea_gyms_part_of_drug_culture_be.html). But for every outspoken doctor prescribing these drugs, there are surely many more who practice with the discretion that medical professionals are trained to emphasize.
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1.) Administered by a doctor
2.) Used to help athletes recover from injuries, and
3.) Come with no risk of long-term health effects.
At first those seem like some pretty big pre-conditions, but in fact Cuban is not so much forward-thinking here as he is behind the times.
Doctors were probably administering performance-enhancing drugs to pro athletes even as Cuban spoke. Doctors can be bought - consider Eufemiano Fuentes, the Spanish doctor who got busted in 2006 and whose work is only still coming to light this week (see here). Our own country is full of doctors with DEA licenses and evangelical attitudes about the same hormones that are banned in pro sports. Its clearly not hard to find health-care providers who speak openly about prescribing steroids: we did (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2009/10/07/2009-10-07_steroids.html, and http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/03/15/2008-03-15_houstonarea_gyms_part_of_drug_culture_be.html). But for every outspoken doctor prescribing these drugs, there are surely many more who practice with the discretion that medical professionals are trained to emphasize.
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http://feeds.nydailynews.com/%7Er/nydnrss/blogs/iteam/%7E3/KJMfgNHIytM/mark-cuban-theres-a-place-for.html
