[benVFR]

So there is a new bill in the Senate...

Sponsored by a Republican (McCain) AND a Democrat.

And you know Bush will not veto this one..

Minimum 2 year suspension for the first time steroid offense in the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL.

Just like Olympic and international athletes get to deal with...

[highsider]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

Although I still like the sound of having a "steroid" league, where the athletes can do as many drugs as they like.

[TheIglu]

I'm for it for the Olympics. I'm not for it for a private business like the NFL NBA etc. Let them do what they want. We already have too many laws.

[bentbryan]

Unfortunately I feel the gov't needs to step in. Professional sports organizations just don't police themselves. The NFL prolly came closest to regulating themselves. And it simply was a case of non-steriod using players getting sick of being flattened by ones who do. Baseball is a joke.

[benVFR]

I think the reason the government has to step in is these are Schedule 1 drugs, it is a felony to have them right?

These guys don't deserve special treatment and less punishment then the rest of us. (I know there is not much enforcement of the random hulk in the gym but those guys do get caught and arrested sometimes.)

The other issue is like it or not, they are role models, and we don't need hundreds of thousands of aspiring high school players doing roids in the hopes of making the majors.

[odduc]

Although I don't like the idea of the government regulating professional sports, which is private business, I think it may be neccessary because of Ben's point. We really don't want aspiring young athletes shooting steroids....

[TheIglu]

Yeah, I'm kinda on the fence on this one. Don't want the government butting in anymore than it does already, but these ingrades should be punished for this crap.

[benVFR]

I'd be fine either way, if the government decriminalizes them, gets doctors involved and gets rid of the stigma, etc.. and makes sure it happens safely, it'd be OK to allow it. I am fairly convinced they are safe if used under a doctor's very close supervision.

But having it be a criminalized drug, that the average guy gets nailed for, but letting these guys get away with it, is BS.

They need to get rid of the gentleman's agreement that allows the league(s) to hide it from the government when they catch someone.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by benVFR
So there is a new bill in the Senate...

Sponsored by a Republican (McCain) AND a Democrat.

And you know Bush will not veto this one..

Minimum 2 year suspension for the first time steroid offense in the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL.

Just like Olympic and international athletes get to deal with...

any federal law would be unconstitutional, this is clearly a states rights issue

[benVFR]

Interesting argument... of course it has nothing to do with steroids and baseball.

Illegal drugs cross state & country borders to get to their destinations, if the federal government got out of it the states probably wouldn't have a chance fo fighting it off. If 1/2 the states want legal crack and the other half don't it basically would flood the whole country....

The Republican argument that it needs to be treated like a defense issue makes plenty of sense IMO.