MLS haunted by drug use

The Major League Soccer (MLS) has suspended Columbus Crew defender Josh Williams after he was found violating its substance abuse policy June 8.

Five players from the Mexican national team were suspended on June 9 for allegedly testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid.

From Oregonlive.com:

Several current MLS players said they think Williams' suspension will prove to be an aberration, in part because of the league's strong track record on drug prevention and in part because soccer players don't feel pressure to bulk up.

"I don't think people are doing it in general at all," Colorado forward Conor Casey said. "And the guys that are, I would doubt that they're doing it on purpose."

Williams is the third player in the league's 16 years to be suspended for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Defender Jeff Parke and goalkeeper Jon Conway of the New York Red Bulls were each suspended 10 games and fined 10 percent their salaries in 2008 for using PEDs (androstatriendione and boldenone metabolites, that, according to the league, were ingredients in an over-the-counter nutritional supplement the players purchased at a vitamin store).

Mexico's soccer federation suspended five national team players after the players tested positive for clenbuterol. However, on Thursday, the federation said results from a second test conducted June 10 came back negative.

"There is no place in sport for performance enhancing drugs," MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a statement. "We continue to hold our players responsible and accountable for everything they ingest in order to ensure the integrity of our competition."

Professional Boxing high on performance enhancing drugs

The use of performance enhancing drugs is on an increase in almost all professional and amateur sports, including professional boxing.

Sportsmen use these performance enhancement drugs for improving performance or adding extra pounds on that bench press or to get bigger in a shorter period of time.

From Boxingnews24.com:

There are anabolic steroids (medicines: androstenedione, ephedrine, stanozolol and nandrolone just to mention a few) for humans and even for animal use, human growth hormone (HGH, somatrotopine), and design laboratories drugs (tetrahydrogestrinone – THG) that have been used to improve the performance of athletes, but even some food supplements are banned; the hyperbaric chambers could be considered as a non natural way to increase your performance in some cases.

The use of performance enhancement drugs gives an illicit advantage to the user, it is shameful and disgraceful, and in some cases it could be even a coward attitude to take that illicit edge on your opponent.

Some argue that PEDS wont give you the skills but they do will give you extra strength, stamina, resistance, speed and power, so if I am a fighter who has average boxing skills I might be able to improve my physique so much that I could end up beating guys who are better naturally gifted than me and even also the ones who are more skilled than me.

Many successful sportsmen of the past had admitted to making the use of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and the world of professional boxing cannot be the exception.

Doctor pleads guilty of steroid conspiracy charge

Dr. Raymond Heller of Omaha, a doctor from Nebraska, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Tulsa to taking part in a steroids conspiracy.

The prosecutor said Heller distributed more than 40,000 dosage units to dozens of customers across the country.

From Tulsaworld.com:

Dr. Raymond Heller of Omaha admitted that from Oct. 1, 2008, until April 8, 2010, he participated in a plot to dispense anabolic steroids outside the usual course of professional medical practice and without a legitimate medical purpose.

Heller, 49, stated in his plea agreement that he was paid $50 for each prescription he signed by Edward Franklin Ward, 51, of Harvest, Ala.

Both men were charged March 11 by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tulsa. The charge against Ward is pending.

Heller said he signed prescriptions forwarded to him by Ward for androgenic anabolic steroids - primarily testosterone - to clients of Ward's "anti-aging" business without having conducted any physical examinations or even having any direct contact with the clients.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel-lyn McCormick said the conspiracy featured the distribution of more than 40,000 dosage units to dozens of customers throughout the United States, including in Oklahoma.

Heller - who is free on bond - could be sentenced to 15 to 21 months in prison under federal guidelines, according to Heller's attorney, Keith Ward.

Warning to school boys over illegal anabolic steroids

Roughly one in six schoolboy rugby players are using illegal anabolic steroids, according to a new survey.

The SA Sports Medicine Association issued a warning in response to the survey results and said the use of anabolic steroids is harmful to the health of school boys.

From Eyewitnessnews.co.za:

The association's Dr John Patricious said the illegal use of steroids among school pupils is becoming a dangerous trend.

“It is harmful to the boys’ health and they often do not see the signs because many of the side effects are silent and will only manifest later. These are schedule 5 drugs and it is a criminal offence to use them without a prescription,” said Patricious.

The survey was independently commissioned by several schools and urine samples were sent for analysis in the United States.

Appeals court declines to block suspensions

The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently declined to block the NFL's long-fought suspensions of Vikings defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams for taking a banned substance.

The decision leaves the players to decide whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court.

From Startribune.com:

The Appeals Court said that because the diuretic the players took does not fall under the state's workplace drug-testing law, the NFL's failure to follow that law's worker-notification requirements does not give state courts a basis to prevent the league's punishment.

However, the Appeals Court's three-judge panel noted that the NFL is subject to state law when testing players for other, covered drugs, such as anabolic steroids.

"Importantly, our holding is limited to the specific facts of this case and should not be read to excuse the NFL from complying with [state law] when applicable," Judge Francis Connolly wrote.

Kevin and Pat Williams tested positive in July 2008 for bumetanide, which is a powerful diuretic that was an unlisted ingredient in the over-the-counter weight-loss supplement StarCaps.

McDermott fails a drugs test

Brett McDermott, the Rugby ace, has failed to clear a drug test. Traces of steroids were found in his urine after Rugby Football League testers visited him at his Dalton home on March 2.

The Barrow Raiders forward was in the middle of a six-match ban for stamping and punching at the time.

From Nwemail.co.uk:

In his first interview following the test results and his retirement – hastened by his wish to avoid tarnishing Raiders – the father-of-three said he had taken a healing agent to speed his recovery and aid his return to his day job as a coal man.

He said: “When I was banned for seven weeks, I fit in to get my elbow fixed.

“I took some orals from the gym to speed things up. With work, I wanted to get back to fitness as soon as I could.

“I didn’t ask what was in them. I knew they were anabolic, but I didn’t ask what was in them, I just wanted to get back playing and working and this sorted us out.

“There are things you can take in competition and out of competition and I thought, as long as I’m clear when I’m playing, I would be fine.

“I was never taking any performance-enhancing drugs when I was playing.

“It’s a bad way to end (my career). I hope people don’t judge me on what I have done now, but rather what I have done in the past.

“All I did it for was to get back as quick as possible for work and for rugby.

McDermott will have an appeal hearing with the RFL on May 10.

Trial of ex-Padre Giles will have no steroid talks

According to a San Diego Superior Court judge, any evidence of alleged steroid use by former Padres outfielder Brian Giles should be excluded from his ongoing palimony trial against his former fiance.

Judge Jeffrey Barton made this ruling in response to a request by attorneys of Giles before the trial.

From Signonsandiego.com:

Giles’ attorney, James Scott, said this pre-trial request was made because of their concern that Olvera “will try to throw any kind of mud against the wall they can. That’s the reason for the prohibition on the issue.”

“I’ve represented Brian since 2003,” Scott said Monday. “He was never involved in it.”

They argued that Olvera had no expert witness to testify about it, that it was irrelevant to the case and that testimony about this subject would be highly prejudicial.

Olvera is seeking more than $10 million in damages in her palimony and domestic violence suit against Giles. She cited four incidents of alleged domestic abuse -- all denied by Giles -- and said he broke an oral agreement with her to provide for her and her daughter after they broke up in 2008. His attorneys have made the case that she refused to sign a prenuptial agreement and that this is part of a pattern of her seeking money from wealthy men.

It was argued by the attorneys that the ex-fiance of Giles, Cheri Olvera, would apparently attempt to prove Giles’ use of Adderrall (an amphetamine) and anabolic steroids to prove him mentally or physically predisposed to anger or violence.

Florida man pleads not guilty

Richard Sciacchetano, a Florida man with reported ties to organized crime and who allegedly provided large quantities of marijuana to a Danbury area drug ring has pleaded not guilty to a conspiracy charge Thursday in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport.

Sciacchetano is accused of being the primary supplier of marijuana to the drug ring, according to court documents.

From Newstimes.com:

The operation was run by Bethel resident Mark Mansa, 46, and it distributed at least 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the last year alone, according to a federal prosecutor handling the case.

Sciacchetano, an older man with curly gray hair who was using a wheelchair to enter the courtroom Thursday, has been detained by federal authorities since his arrest Feb. 28.

During his brief arraignment hearing Thursday, Sciacchetano pleaded not guilty to the single charge of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana.

Sciacchetano, according to federal court documents, was the main supplier for Mansa and Brookfield resident Glenn Wagner, 48, who allegedly purchased between 20 to 30 pounds a month of marijuana and distributed the drug to "lower-level dealers."

Wagner, who is also facing weapons charges for a sawed-off shotgun police say they discovered during a search of his North Lake Shore Drive home in late February, has also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Mansa is facing several charges for allegedly selling anabolic steroids, including conspiracy to distribute and several counts of possession that stemmed from controlled purchases with an undercover informant last spring, according to court documents.

Ban for four Chinese swimmers

A three-man FINA panel has revealed that four Chinese swimmers were guilty of using banned substances in the World Championships in Perth.

The accused athletes have been suspended for two years from all competition.

From Independent.ie:

A THREE man FINA panel yesterday found four Chinese swimmers guilty of using banned substances in the World Championships in Perth, Australia, and suspended them for two years from all competition.

FINA said the suspensions went into force immediately. A temporary suspension period, which was in force from Jan. 14 until April 25, will be deducted from the two-year total.

The three Chinese women Luna Wang, Cai Huijue and Zhang Yi and male teammate Wang Wei tested positive for triamterene, a banned diuretic used for masking the use of anabolic steroids.

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Barry Bonds, one of the biggest sport stars of the United States of America, has been charged with lying under oath about taking steroids.

Bonds has been charged with perjury and obstructing justice.

From Telegraph.co.uk:

Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, vowed to rid the sport of illegal drugs and stressed that he was awaiting the results of an investigation by a former US senator.
The indictment against Bonds, 43, on four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, was filed in San Francisco on Thursday. It follows a four-year investigation into the sale of performance-enhancing drugs to top American athletes.

The home run record holder of Major League Baseball has been accused of being "intentionally evasive, false and misleading" in his testimony.