In a news item that may have been overlooked in Canada, the United States has charged four people, including Barry Bonds's personal trainer, with running an illegal drug distribution operation. (Thanks to Mike Green for pointing out the Foxsports.com story on another thread.) It was big enough in the U.S. to be the lede on one of National Public's Radio's hourly news updates, and in this article, Shaun Assael of ESPN's The Magazine offers his opinion. I have serious doubts that Barry Bonds has ever done anything that would possibly harm his body. He's much too intelligent, and he's already good enough; he does not need more of an edge than he already has. Others, though, may feel that need, and they might consider the juice or legal supplements as the answer.
But it is up for debate how widespread illegal drug use is in baseball. Probably Jose Canseco's version and the five percent theory offered by MLB are both wrong. One thing is clear, at least to me: the U.S. government should stay out of this. As Assael notes, President Bush mentioned steroid use in his annual state of the union speech in January. Politics aside, the world is staring at avalanches of problems; this is not the time for the U.S. to get involved in the machinations of the sporting world, even if sports are a welcome distraction from the world's burdens. Steroids represent a serious problem for all athletes and for the games they play, and they must be dealt with, but I'm not in favor of government intervention. Let the sports world have a go at it.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040213034410999