Healthy choices' session conducted by coaches and athletes

In today's competitive sports world, only a few coaches would deny that more than half a million high school athletes use performance enhancing drugs or supplements are not using to get an edge on the competition.

“It’s a problem across the board…if not steroids, it’s the supplements (you can buy at health food stores) or the energy drinks,” said LHS varsity football coach Ron Lewis. “Players might want to get hyped up before the game so they take a 5-hour energy drink.”

From Lakewoodobserver.com:

A health promotion and substance abuse prevention program called ATLAS (Athletes Training & Learning to Avoid Steroids) & ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise & Nutrition Alternatives) partnered with the NFL to help young athletes across the country get on board with healthy choices to help their bodies perform to the best of their natural ability. On Thursday, September 22, six coaches and 38 athletes from Lakewood High School attended an ATLAS & ATHENA training session hosted by the Cleveland Browns at Browns Stadium.

The Lakewood contingent was part of 200 coaches and student-athletes from seven area schools invited to Browns Stadium to listen to experts talk to them about sports nutrition, strength training and the effects of steroids, alcohol, supplements and illicit drugs on performance. It was also a chance for the athletes to talk about the pressures they face and what might be some good ways to cope with that pressure.

“I feel it prepared us well to come back to our teams and be a leader,” Abby Boland, a senior on the girls’ soccer team said.

Verdone thrilled to sign Lions contract

Taken in the fifth round by the Lions in the 2012 CFL draft, Linebacker/long snapper Jordan Verdone is excited to sign Lions contract.

“If it doesn’t work out, I’ll be very upset,” Verdone said. “I’m definitely motivated to play for the B.C. Lions this year. My mindset is I’ll be there in 2012.”

From Vancouversun.com:

Though he has two years of CIS eligibility remaining, Verdone has no intention of returning to Calgary, even though the Dinos offered a lifeline to his college football career.

Two years ago, he was caught up in the football steroids scandal at the University of Waterloo, a school he attended because his older brother, Jamie, went there and won a Yates Cup (Ontario university championship) in 1999.

A regional police raid at two residences at the university in March 2010, turned up a quantity of anabolic steroids and HGH (human growth hormone) which implicated members of the football team.

The director of Waterloo athletics ordered the entire squad to be tested for performance-enhancing drugs. Nine tested positive, in the biggest doping scandal in Canadian university sports history.

“It’s a football factory, man. Awesome, really cool,” he explained. “The whole program at Waterloo was thrown into the garbage can. It was a terrible decision. I was bitter for so long. But when I got to Calgary, I never thought about it again. The players, the coaching, the alumni, the organization, the support ... it’s all first class. It makes you forget how badly you’ve been treated.”

Braun vehemently denies steroid allegations

Milwaukee leftfielder Ryan Braun has disputed allegations that he took performance-enhancing substances to maintain his innocence, while accepting his National League MVP.

"I always believed that a person's character is revealed in those moments of adversity," he said. "I have so much respect for the game of baseball. Everything I've done in my career has been done with that appreciation in mind."

From Winnipegfreepress.com:

Braun, who won the honours after hitting .332 with 33 home runs and 111 RBI in the regular season, also thanked the Players Association for "supporting me, especially after everything I've been through the last couple of months."

Braun tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone in December. He's appealing the results this month but if Major League Baseball deems that he was on steroids, he could face a 50-game suspension. It was the 89th annual awards dinner, meant to honour the biggest names in baseball.

"Sometimes in life, we all deal with challenges we never expected," he said. "We have an opportunity to look at those challenges as obstacles or opportunities and I've chosen to see every challenge as an opportunity. This will be no different."

Andre Berto fails drugs test

Andre Berto, who is set to meet Victor Ortiz in a rerun of their epic 2011 Fight of the Year on June 23, has failed a drugs test.

Berto ironically had accused Ortiz of having used performance enhancing drugs.

From Boxingfutures.com:

‘I had absolutely nothing to do Andre Berto's positive drug test for nandrolone. Andre enrolled in the VADA drug testing program in early 2012. While using my nutritional products and protocols Andre's blood and urine were randomly tested twice before his recent bicep injury and all tests were negative,’ said Conte.

 After his positive test was revealed, Andre admitted that he recently took some supplements that were not provided by me and did so without my knowledge. It is possible that one these supplements was contaminated with trace amounts of nandrolone and caused his positive test result.

My understanding is that an investigation is being conducted in an attempt to determine the culprit. I was the person who encouraged Andre to enroll in the VADA program and I will continue to encourage athletes to do so. There have been hundreds of nandrolone positive drug tests in the past that I believe were a result of contaminated supplements.

Berto tested positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid, and has been working with infamous doping expert Victor Conte.

CSI athlete sold steroids to teammates

Billy-Bob Ward, a baseball player from the College of Southern Idaho, was recently arrested on felony charges for allegedly selling anabolic steroids to many of his Golden Eagle teammates.

Arrest of the 21-year-old Las Vegas native was the culmination of an Idaho State Police investigation.

From Kboi2.com:

College of Southern Idaho Athletic Director Joel Bate was clearly shocked by the news.

"We're obviously disappointed. We are embarrassed, but we are going to educate ourselves, and our staff. To educated our teams, to set up testing now that this is a reality that we never thought was a reality," said Bate.

Like most junior college programs, The College of Southern Idaho does not require steroid testing though it does have a recreational drug test in place.

Cop arrested for possession of Anavar pills

A four-year veteran of the Bridgeton Police Department (BPD) was taken into custody for possessing 60 pills of Anavar.

Robert W. Smith, 31, of Williamstown, was apprehended by members of the police department and Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office on narcotics-related charges shortly after he reported for the duty.

From NJ.com:

The charges include possession of a controlled dangerous substance (oxandrolone anabolic steroids), possession with intent to distribute, distribution and distribution within a school zone.

Smith, who had been assigned to the department’s patrol bureau, was lodged in the Salem County Correctional Facility on $75,000 cash bail. He was “immediately suspended without pay with intent to dismiss pending final criminal case disposition,” according to BPD Chief Mark Ott.

According to the court documents, the four-year veteran was in possession of 60 pills of Anavar.

British sprinter appeal against ban

A four-year ban was confirmed for Bernice Wilson, the British sprinter, after she lost an appeal against the sanction imposed following her positive test for two steroids.

The 27-year-old sprinter tested positive for excess levels of testosterone and for clenbuterol on 12 June.

From Guardian.co.uk:

An independent National Anti-Doping Panel handed out a four-year ban against which Wilson appealed, and UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) confirmed on Friday that she had lost her appeal.

UKAD's chief executive, Andy Parkinson, said: "We have successfully argued for a four-year ban, which demonstrates that UK Anti-Doping always seeks robust sanctions against athletes who look to cheat the system and betray those around them.

"This sends a strong message to anyone looking to dope in the UK and gives clean athletes the confidence that we are working hard on their behalf, within the framework of the World Anti-Doping Code, to protect their right to compete in doping-free sport."

The National Anti-Doping Panel said Wilson was an "experienced and senior athlete" who saw herself as a role model to younger athletes. "Far from admitting her guilt … she sought to blame other people," the panel said in its ruling.

International surfing body plans for drug testing

The Association of Surfing Professionals is currently making comprehensive drug testing plans for screening professional surfers.

In 2012, the international governing body of surfing will come up with a policy for screening competitors and officials for performance-enhancing and recreational drugs.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The move comes after the death of the triple world champion Andy Irons in November 2010. A postmortem found he died from a heart attack and "acute mixed drug ingestion". Traces of methadone, methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth, and a metabolite of cocaine were found in his bloodstream.

Another professional surfer, Anthony Ruffo, a 47-year-old pioneer of the Santa Cruz scene in the 1980s, is facing a possible jail sentence for selling methamphetamine after he was caught with an ounce of the drug.

"We believe this is a natural evolution in enhancing the professionalism of our sport," said Dave Prodan, a spokesman for the ASP. "This motion has the full support of the surfers on tour as they want to be taken more professionally, and believe this is a step in the right direction. We have been discussing and drafting a policy with the guidance of the World Anti Doping Agency for over two years and the budget, approved at the November board of directors meeting, has just allowed us the possibility of implementing it as soon as next year."

"I have seen guys who are stoners and they drop off the scene because it is not sustainable," he said. "Athletes are training hard. The way the contests are now, it will catch up with you," Gerry Fitzgerald, a professional in Ireland, said.

Steroid use discourage bill receives approval

The legislation meant for curtailing the use of anabolic steroids by student-athletes received final legislative approval by the full Assembly by a vote of 74-2 and will now to the desk of the Governor.

The bill will require all public school coaches and non-public interscholastic sports, dance, and cheerleading coaches to incorporate a gender-specific program designed for minimizing the use of steroids, alcohol and other drugs and for promoting 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.”

Lawyer to examine medications of U.S. soldier

The attorney for the U.S. soldier charged with killing 17 Afghan civilians on March 11, John Henry Browne, recently said that he was interested to know what medications his client, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, was taking at the time of the shootings.

"We have to order his medical records, and they haven't given them to us yet," he said. "He was taking medications, but we don't know whether it was aspirin, heart medicines. We don't know what it was."

Investigators discovered suspected steroids were hidden in Bales' living quarters according to an internal Pentagon document.

From Pbs.org:

Browne said that in some previous legal cases, he has cited the side effects of a prescribed drug in a client's defense.

"There are a lot of medicines that can backfire," Browne said. He pointed, in particular, to recent reports about Lariam, an anti-malarial medication.

NewsHour viewers have their suspicions as well. "I can tell you that I personally ruined my life because of that substance in July 2011 and I have no memory of my actions," one viewer said of the sleeping medication Ambien in an email to the NewsHour.

"After any unexpected violent act, we search for rational explanations. Sometimes the best explanation is that reason was turned off and primitive, predatory parts of the brain took over," said Dr. Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Michigan State University.