The former Great Britain hooker, Terry Newton, had traces of anabolic steroids, cocaine, and amphetamines in his system when he killed himself in September.

Newton became the first professional sportsman to test positive for human growth hormone in February and was serving a suspension of two years when he took his life at the age of 31.

From Guardian.co.uk:

"We have a picture where steroid abuse may well have led on to behavioural changes. We can say that is virtually certain. Subsequently they have rendered Mr Newton, on the balance of probabilities, unable to form an appropriate judgment as to the nature and quality of his actions."
Newton's wife Stacey attended the hearing at Bolton coroner's court with other close family members. She was too upset to give evidence. Newton was discovered by police in the loft of his home in Orrell, Wigan, on 26 September, after Stacey had told a friend she was concerned for his safety. He had left notes around the house expressing a desire to end his life.
Toxicology reports showed he had taken the steroid nandrolone within the week of his death and traces of cocaine and amphetamine were in his urine, along with alcohol and anti-depressants. Human growth hormone cannot be tested for in post-mortem samples. None of the banned drugs were a direct factor in the cause of death but all could have lowered a person's mood, the inquest was told.

Some experts are of the view that Newton's death could have delivered a macabre warning to others about the dangers of taking performance enhancing drugs.

McGwire's name added to cheat list of MLB

Mark McGwire, the former St Louis Cardinals slugger, has now decided to come clean after years of rumor that he used steroids.

The one-time "home-run king" recently became the latest confessed steroid users of baseball and remarked, "It was absolutely the most ridiculously stupid thing I've ever done in my life. I regret it totally”.

From Guardian.co.uk:

McGwire's confession was carefully filtered out through a press release and a series of brief interviews, but the centrepiece was an one-hour live, sit-down with Bob Costas of the Major League Baseball network, which was intended to address every conceivable question raised by the revelation that the man who broke the home-run record in 1998, and who in doing so was credited with reviving baseball's image after a damaging players' strike earlier in the decade, was in fact a cheat.
Costas is many things but he is certainly no mug and he did a brilliant job in getting McGwire to tell his (obviously rehearsed) story, as well as exposing the contradictions therein.
The reviews have landed and they can be best described as mixed. Those inclined to feel sympathetic towards the slugger credit him with offering a more "complete" and "believable" confession than the likes of Rodriguez, who tried to pass off his drug use as actions of a stupid youth, or Giambi, who apologised but declined to say what he was apologising for.

It appears that baseball players who had became drug cheats to gain recognition are now making attempts to rewrite a history that they had already rewritten before with mendacious intent by their use of performance enhancing drugs.

Australian surf lifesaving athlete banned

A surf lifesaving athlete from Australia, Peter Atkins, has been handed over a ban from sport for a period of two years after making using a banned substance.

Atkins was banned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after he tested positive for the steroid stanozolol in an in-competition test in March.

From Dailytelegraph.com.au:

AUSTRALIAN surf lifesaving athlete Peter Atkins has been banned from the sport for two years for using a banned substance.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) imposed the sanction on the Currumbin Barbarians surf boat crew member after he tested positive for the steroid stanozolol in an in-competition test in March.

Currumbin won the men's open boat event at the 2009 Australian Surf Life Saving championships but Atkins will forfeit any medals, points and prizes awarded to him.

Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from testosterone and a prohibited substance under the World Anti-Doping Code. Atkins will be ineligible to compete until May 4, 2011. The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority has welcomed the decision.

The Currumbin Barbarians surf boat crew member will be ineligible to compete until May 4, 2011.

Miami Heat forward feels the heat of NBA

Don MacLean, the Miami Heat forward, has become the first NBA player to be suspended for steroid use.

MacLean was suspended for a period of five games without pay after violating the policy on using steroids of the NBA and Players' Association.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

Neither the Heat, the NBA nor the Players Association is permitted to disclose information regarding the testing or treatment of a player.
MacLean was signed by the Heat as a free agent after stints with Washington (1992-95), Denver (1995-96), Philadelphia (1996-97), New Jersey (1997-98), Seattle (1998-99) and Phoenix (1999-2000).
He has played just 42 games over the past three seasons due to injuries, and is averaging 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds this season.
The NBA's Most Improved Player for the 1993-94 season, he has a career average of 11.1 points and 3.8 rebounds.

The NBA player was scheduled to miss at least a month after undergoing surgery on his right foot on 15 November.

Prostate carcinoma patients can get relief with combo

A combination of docetaxel and estramustine, the cancer drugs, can prove to be an effective option for offering relief to patients afflicted with prostate carcinoma (cancer) and not making expected responds to hormone therapy and whose cancer has spread to other body parts.

Derek Raghavan, M.D., director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and co-author of the study, said that patients administered with docetaxel and prednisone had a better outcome throughout the survival curve.

From News-medical.net:

The study found that patients who received a combination of docetaxel and estramustine experienced an improvement in their survival rate vs. those treated with mitoxantrone, another cancer drug, and prednisone, a type of steroid.
“This work will be important in shaping future drug strategies in treating patients with advanced, hormone-resistant prostate cancer, as no prior study has shown an improvement in their median or overall survival,” said Derek Raghavan, M.D., director of the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and co-author of the study. Dr. Raghavan is one of the leaders of the Genitourinary Committee of the Southwest Oncology Group, the team that conducted the study. The physicians at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center are members of this cooperative cancer research group.

This finding was disclosed by a study published in an issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Surge in use of Class A drugs among youth

The Home Office has revealed that more and more young men and women are indulging into illicit use of class A drugs.

According to the latest findings from the British Crime Survey, more than half a million young people make use of ecstasy and cocaine.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Home Office minister Alan Campbell said it was encouraging that overall drug use remained historically low and that use of the most harmful drugs was stable. "However, we are not complacent," he said. "We are taking comprehensive action to tackle cocaine use, from increased enforcement to reduce the supply, along with effective treatment, education and early intervention for those most at risk."
The minister said that cocaine purity had been recorded at an all time low in police seizures.
"When people think they are taking cocaine, in some instances the actual purity is as low as 4%.
"Police are increasingly seeing drugs cut with a hazardous cocktail of chemicals which include phenacetin, a known carcinogen. Cocaine can cause serious damage to health and these chemicals can, in themselves, cause significant harm to the user."

It was disclosed by the survey that there was a surge in the use of class A drugs and cocaine powder, ecstasy, tranquillizers, anabolic steroids, and ketamine.

Use of steroids by athletes advocated

An ally in Dr. Norman Fost, director of the bioethics program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was found by sportsmen on steroids who have seen their image getting tarnished by media.

It was remarked by Dr. Fost that athletes should be allowed to use performance enhancing drug as per their preferences, hinting that all previous talks about steroid use in sports were of no substance.

From Bigthink.com:

“Drug-testing policies in professional sports are completely illogical, and the placement of drugs on the banned substance list is quite arbitrary,” says Fost. He readily acknowledges that many of these illegal substances do boost performance, but “so does everything else that athletes do to give themselves a competitive edge.” He also emphasizes that steroids do not create athletes, but rather help them to train harder; “Believe me, I could juice all day and all night, and I’d never be able to hit a major league pitch.”
In response to those who believe steroids should remain banned because of their health risks, Fost points to the MLB’s tolerance of chewing tobacco during games, and to the NFL’s glorification of bone-crunching tackles. Regardless, Fost insists that the health risks of steroids have been wildly exaggerated. Fost also thinks it's hypocritical that Lance Armstrong has been crucified in the media for his alleged blood doping, while NFL newcomer (and predestined superstar) Tim Tebow was recently seen on television boasting about his use of a hyperbaric chamber; “Hyperbaric chambers and drugs such as EPO are essentially two means to the same end.”

This support for use of steroids also suggested that proclaimed health risks of steroids have been widely exaggerated in the past and steroid use can only help athletes train hard.

Asthma victims can benefit from steroids

According to a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and other institutions, asthmatics can benefit to a significant extent when doses of steroids are increased or more drugs are added to the steroid treatment.

Robert C. Strunk, M.D., and Leonard B. Bacharier, M.D., both Washington University pediatric asthma specialists at St. Louis Children's Hospital were co-authors for this study.

From Sciencedaily.com:

"We used a few complicated and expensive tests we thought would help us determine which drug would be better, but they didn't help, so we can avoid these tests," says Strunk, the Donald Strominger Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University School of Medicine.
Although 98 percent of patients in the study showed improvement on at least one of the step-up options, there were still 120 asthma exacerbations, or attacks, among the 165 patients that required treatment with prednisone, a corticosteroid commonly used after an exacerbation that prevents the release of inflammatory substances in the body. Bacharier says that indicates none of these treatments provide perfect asthma control.
"There may not be an ideal therapy for every patient, but these step-up treatments allow for improved asthma control and outcomes over leaving them on low-dose steroids alone," Bacharier says.

This study was published online March 2, 2010, by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented the same day at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology's annual meeting in New Orleans.

Andrew Leipus rejects drugs claims

The physiotherapist of the Indian cricket team, Andrew Leipus, has rejected allegations in the Outlook magazine that were backed up by quotes attributed to former coach Anshuman Gaekwad.

Leipus told the www.rediff.com website, "I have never asked anyone to use steroids ever”.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

"I have never even asked them to use cortisone injections to mask pain.
"The Indian cricket team does not work hard enough in the gym to benefit from the use of steroids."
Gaekwad, who was Indian coach for three years, has threatened to sue the magazine, saying his quotes had been taken out of context.
"I generally talked about energy-replacement drinks which, in any case, are taken on the field in full public view," said the former Test cricketer.
"At no point did I mention the use of performance-enhancing drugs."
South African Leipus, who has been with the Indian team for two years, said the claims were unrealistic.
"Indian cricketers do not push themselves to their genetic potential. Steroids help people in the gym enormously. If you are into heavy weight training, steroids will help you a lot.

Leipus also denied rumors that players could be using drugs during the off-season without his knowledge.

Australian trainer Joe Janiak hits back in row

Joe Janiak, the Australian trainer, recently responded to claims that Takeover Target should not have been invited to run at Royal Ascot.

Takeover Target, the nine-year old, could have an unfair advantage after testing positive for a banned steroid in 2006 as per British trainer Mark Johnston.

From News.bbc.co.uk:

Janiak said the criticism is unfair: "There's no justification for it, we were innocent at the time."
"At no stage did steroids give my horse an advantage."
He added: "It's done and we've paid the penalty."
Takeover Target was found to have the anabolic steroid 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone hexanoate, known as HPC, in his system on arrival in Hong Kong in October 2006.
The drug, which has the potential to build muscle, was not on the banned list of substances in Australia at the time but was outlawed in February 2008.
Janiak says HPC was recommended by vets as an aid for horses who travel abroad.

Johnston told the Racing Post that it seems like the rules for British trainers are different from those for Australian trainers with runners in Britain.