Government and AS

[JAG]

Well, I know there were alot of posts recently on boards about baseball and AS well it looks like the funs about to start (see ESPN article below). I thought for once this might have been a good thing since players were actualy saying that AS could be used safely...we will see.

WASHINGTON -- Congress is going to look into steroid use in baseball, following the recent disclosure that two former most valuable players used the muscle-building drugs.


Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said Monday he plans to hold a hearing that also will look at steroid use in the Olympics and among college athletes. Dorgan is chairman of the consumer affairs, foreign commerce and tourism subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee.


''Everybody knows how damaging use of these steroids are to athletes' health,'' Dorgan said. ''We've got an issue to face as a country, not just among baseball players, but also with college sports and our Olympic athletes.''


No date has been set for the hearing. Dorgan said he plans to invite baseball executives, players and union representatives.


MLB lobbyist Lucy Calauitt told Roll Call Daily that the league "intends to have one or two people at the hearing to testify," but those names are unknown at this time.


Steroids have become a major topic in baseball since former MVPs Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco admitted using the drugs. Caminiti retired last year; Canseco ended his 17-year career this spring.


It's unclear how many current players take steroids. Canseco said up to 85 percent took the drugs when he played, though current players such as Atlanta Braves pitcher Tom Glavine say that estimate is far too high.


The NFL and NBA prohibit steroids and test for them, but major league baseball does not. Baseball owners would like to add steroid testing into the new collective bargaining agreement.

 

[MikeS]

"Everybody knows how damaging the use of these steroids are";
What may as well be said instead is: "everybody has been brainwashed by media hype into believing that steroids are very damaging/dangerous". Somehow we must get our point of view heard so this is not a onesided which-hunt, using steroids as a scapegoat. Im going to see if I can find the address for Byron Dorgan d- ND; If I can I'll post and some of the more ambitious guys here can write letters to this a-hole. There is no actual date set for the hearings-Im going to contact steroid lawyer Rick Collins (www.steroidlaw.com) too. We need to be represented.

 

[MikeS]

**broken link removed**

-there it is. Please help. I'll post my letter soon...

 

[MikeS]

Letter reads, and was borrowing partial statements from a letter
Id previously written:

Dear Mr Byron Dorgan-

I have read your statements regarding Anabolic Steroids and the future hearing regarding such.
I must protest your irresponsible passing of information in which you likely know little or nothing about.
''Everybody knows how damaging use of these steroids are to athletes' health,'' Dorgan said. ''We've got an issue to face as a country, not just among baseball players, but also with college sports and our Olympic athletes.''

I am a bodybuilder, and not Doctors (with a few exceptions), but WE are the experts in this field. I have studied the science of anabolic sports pharmacology for 15yrs. I am well versed on the subject. What credentials do you have that supports your informing the public of your bogus statements?

Ive been around bodybuilding for 20yrs. My wife has been a mortician for 10yrs, and a nurse for 10yrs before that. Neither of us has seen any severe adverse effects from steroids, and certainly not death. Never. Actual causes of death, despite the media laying the blame on steroids, including-Lyle Alzado; AIDS related brain cancer. Davey Smith/Rick Rude/Brian Pillman;pain killers and the deterioration from those drugs. No proof is evident that wrestler Billy Grahams ailments are steroid related? Dont you think there should be some responsibility in reporting facts supported by actual evidence, other than the outrageous, jump on the anti-steroid bandwagon, opinions of some uneducated reporter? Its just sensationalism, and since the public has no actual knowledge of this subject, they assume the media reporters are knowledgeable, and take that information as fact. You may have done the same. You and others are just making wildly untrue comments, with steroids being scapegoat for so much.

Here lies the danger in your statements. It justifies the illegalization of a performance/cosmetic enhancing drug-certainly less harmful than legal lyposuction, plastic surgery, breast enhancement...etc; and with steroids, the performance is only enhanced by honest hard work, proper nutrition, unlike all those surgical procedures. And women can take sex hormones for aging, birth control; both sexes can use hormones if they desire a sex change. If a man required hormone replacement therapy (testosterone) is it
viewed as a catastrophe; if a woman goes on HPT (estrogen),
the treatment of this condition is totally acceptable.
Not to mention the legalization of very harmful drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. Making laws that affect the entire population in order to legislate or govern a minute body of athletes (Olympics, Baseball) is prepostrous. The vast majority of athletes are just looking for better bodies, increased strength, results for their gruling work and nutrition proctices;and are NOT professional athletes. These sports are fully capable of determining their own regulations, and we as citizens should not have to be held to standards set in order to govern their sports. It has happened before-the hysteria of Ben Johnson's Olympic incident resulted in the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. It criminilizes these drugs as Schedule III, along with drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines, morphine. This is a travesty! Courts are treating hard working athletes in the same vein as recreational drug addict's! Do you suggest harsher laws? I surely hope not, and if so - you are a prime example of the need for education PRIOR to comments and decisions being discussed on issues.
I know vast amounts of steroid users-it is the most typical cross section of productive America you will ever see. Lawyers, Doctors, Policemen, Firemen, computer geeks, accountants, I could go on. So why are some of the reasons that steroids are illegal, and otherwise honest taxpaying, working athetes are subject to jail for its use?

Well, YOU are an example of the reason! False information spread through media hype, filling the unknowing public with a perception that is not warranted. I heard an interview of the writer of the Ken Camaniti SI story, he had absolutely no basic real knowledge of steroids, basically just repeating the same hype that everyone sees as the truth. Steroids dont cause heart attacks, liver failure, rage. Rage is caused by immature behavior-its an excuse to act viscous. The early studies on liver failure was done on sickly, geriatric patients who were on massive (much more than any healthy athelete would use) doses of the steroid Anadrol. Some types of steroids can raise blood pressure temporarily, while it will return to normal after cessation of its use. Adolescents should not use them regardless-and that is not effected by their being legal or not. Certainly there are some side effects. If that is reported responsibly people can educate themselves and take precautions, using these drugs in a responsible way.
It is very possible-Ive been doing so for 18yrs. So have many, many people I know. I studied and became responsible for using these substances correctly-as any adult should do before they indulge in any similar type of activity. I have no aliments. My condition is amazing for a 43YO. Learn to drive before you get a car - or you would wreck it immediately; Should cars be illegal because of this? No one should spend ONE DAY in jail because of steroids. The unjust laws are a reflection of general public and lawmakers uninformed opinions. Which begins with opinions not supported by facts or knowledge, such as the damaging opinions created from your statements. Please refrain from dispensing any more nonfactual opinions on this subject. I could recommend a fine website for education made by a prominent professional, laywer Rick Collins. His website is www.steroidlaw.com - examine it with open mind and then I would welcome your further comments in regard to Anabolics.

If you have any questions or comments, I would welcome a reply. I would be willing to discuss this, on any platform, with anyone who cares to share information. Lawyer Rick Collins would surely also welcome any discussion of these matters.

Please, I am not a residence of ND. But this is a National issue, and it requires educated attention. Please reply in email to this issue I present, which you have chosen to become involved with.

 

[Bishop]

well stated as usual

 

[Statix]

bump this one...lots of good points made

 

[LATS]

guys, i recommend that everyone writes in. remeber the key is to hit them with cold hard facts. do not give an emotional plea. we need to come across as intelligent, well spoken athletes that do no one any harm. it is time to get involved. ask why we are the only country that makes this a huge issue? are we the only ones that are right? at the minimum, we need to keep the laws were they are at right now. do not let them make us out to be hardened criminals or even worse, people that need the goverments help so we do not hurt ourselves.
i do not remember who brought up the issue about roe v wade but, it is a very important one. it states that a women has the right to do whatever she wants with her body. yet, we can not take steroids to add additional mass to our frames? who the hell are we hurting? no one!! yet a women can have an abortion, a sometimes dangerous procedure, and it is okay because it is her choice. count the number of complications and deaths from abortions gone wrong compared to steroid related deaths an you will see how ridiculous this has become. (no i am not using this as a stance about abortion , just an example). we should have the same rights as those women. get involved guys...intelligent answers to questions is what this is about.....

 

[Tazzy]

My letter to the Schmu.. i mean senator

Here is what I wrote to the senator.. I also forwarded a copy with changes to my own senator.

June 11, 2002 Dear Mr. Dorgan,

Congrats to you on being the first to stand on your soapbox and to try and gain more popularity for yourself by talking about something you know next to nothing about. The only reason that your doing it, is because of it being a hot topic. I have to ask you something. If Jose Conseco, who is basically being a whiney cry-baby because he is feeling a bit jilted didn’t mention anything about steroids in baseball, would you be planning to hold these “tax- payers-waste-of-money” hearings? ''Everybody knows how damaging use of these steroids are to athletes' health,'' Dorgan said. ''We've got an issue to face as a country, not just among baseball players, but also with college sports and our Olympic athletes.'' Well you and everybody do not know how damaging the use of steroids are. Abuse is damaging.. use is not. You and your peers have lied to the American public about steroids since 1990 when this unconstituional law was mandated. This law was put in effect and was fueled by the DEA and other factions of the governments greed of money and control of the American public. It was not for our safety. And you know it. This law is unconstitutional for a plain simple reason. It takes the rights away from the majority of males in this country to be able to do what they want to their own bodies and not have the government interfere with their decisions. Women have these rights, but men do not.

In most states a young teenage girl can go to a local licensed Gynocologist and be examined, and given a prescription of HORMONES (same thing as a steroid) and the young ladies parents do not have to be informed! A woman can go get a procedure to have invasive surgery to have her breasts augmented. I guess since the majority of congress are men, then having women walking around with bigger breasts is a good thing…..? A woman has the right to terminate a pregnancy. I don’t have to go into how controversial that subject is. Basically its Roe vs Wade. Which simply put is that a woman and only the woman can use her own free will on what she can and cannot do with her body. It’s a good law to me. So, why can’t a man have the same rights? That sounds like our civil rights are being taken away from us? Sounds unconstitutional to me! Why can’t I legally augment my physique (which women can do legally) by taking a hormone (which women can do legally) and have the rights and the free will to choose what I can and cannot do to my own body? (again, which women can do legally) My mother passed away 6 years ago from cancer. She smoked cigarettes. Cigarettes that are legal because people like yourself can make money from them. Now to quote you, ''Everybody knows how damaging use of these steroids err um I mean cigarettes are to athletes' err um I mean peoples health,'' Now I will finish the quote for you and countless other congress people.. “but I cannot talk about it because we are getting rich from it and we cannot take away the Americans peoples free will to put things in their body, even if its bad for them. We can put warning labels on the packages, and hopefully they will heed our warnings. Because as long as they pay the tax on them.. WE care!” Millions of Americans have gotten terminally ill from cigarettes, you along with us know that its bad for you, but you don’t stand up against it. Because, you are profitting from it. Plain and simple. I had a grandfather whom I never met. He was an alcoholic. Which means he drank himself to have liver failure and it eventually killed him. This is where the abuse comes from, abuse is bad, not use. He was able to use his rights to purchase alcohol and apparently enough to destroy his liver after years and years of abuse. He paid for the alcohol and the TAX for you and your peers. But again, you all are all for allowing us to use our God given free will to use things in our body, even if they are not good for us. As long as enough people can use them, and you can profit from them. Steroids are illegal because not enough people use them. Therefore you and your peers cannot profit from them being legal. However, making them illegal is a lot more profitable. You can hire more DEA personnel, FDA personnel, more local law enforcement and therefore you have to tax the American people more to pay for all this! And to justify adding Steroids to your fantasy world which you push on us called “The war on drugs”, you conjure up lies, get doctors who don’t know anything about steroid use or how they work to tell the American public that using steroids is dangerous. You count on that most Americans are naïve and listen to everything you tell them and everything that your appointed doctors tell us. And you are right. So you make it out to be evil and you are going to protect us against this horrible epidemic! So most Americans are sitting at night, maybe reading the newspaper when the column of yours crosses their red-rimmed eyes, as they crush out their legal cigarette, and slurp down a gulp of their nightly cocktail, and say “thank GOD, for this guy!” Business as usual.. right? I will agree with you on one thing.. steroids in baseball should not be tolerated .. but the only reason is that it’s the only way to make it fair for all players. Yes I believe that everyone should have a fair and equal chance based on their natural abilities when it comes to sports, but in the world that most Americans dwell in, its fair that ALL Americans have the right to do what they want to their own bodies. God did give us free will. Or try this. Im willing to bargain with you. On all vials of steroids, or bottle of tablet form steroids, from Anavar which is really called Oxandralone to Winstrol which is really called Stanazolol, we can put Government warning labels.. Here are some:

WARNING: Steroids do not contain Carbon Monoxide WARNING: Steroids can impair your ability to operate a car or other machinery. WARNING: Pregnant women should not consume steroids. Or consume steroids, alcohol and smoke cigarettes at the same time.

Its rediculous I know.. but I used the cigarette wrappers and looked on alcoholic beverage bottles and cans. But I will tell you this. Steroids do not contain Carbon Monoxide.. cigarettes do. Steroids do not impair your judgement while driving, alcohol does. And most pregnant women I know are not to concerned about gaining muscle while they are pregnant. Most of your loyal Americans that use steroids, come from all walks of life. I know Lawyers, doctors, Nurses, accountants, IT personnel, factory workers, carpenters, POLICEMEN, US Marshalls, salesmen, mechanics.. and the majority are family men, love their children, work hard at their job, pay their taxes, love their neighbors and most love our country. They just want to better their looks, by using steroids safely. Most steroid users use steroids, they don’t abuse them. I want you to know whose rights you are violating. If you want to be educated from someone that has used them in the past, and not abused them. Write back and I will be glad to educate you. I won’t lie to you. Yes, like anything out there, it has a dark side to it. But most of it is safe.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Mr_Magoo]

guys as much as i hate to say it, our goverment does not care about facts, im being totally honest here. even if palumbo and a shit load of other md's stepped up on our side, we would not be heard. i mean fo rcrying outloud tons of doctors lobbied against the anabolic steroid controll act of 1990 yet congress past it. the only way for roids to become legal is if Joe Citizen wants to get t-replacement therapy, why? bc they make money this way.

 

[MikeS]

Dont be so pesimistic, Mr magoo! Fact is you are right-and most of us know it. But we are pantywastes if we dont have our voices heard! A well spoken guy like you could help!

 

[warchild]

steroids

Sen dorgan...give me a break!!! worry about terrorism within our borders and use some common sense to enforce immigration laws instead of this whole steroid fiasco!! who really cares?? Dorgan supports perjury and obstruction of justice from former president clinton...nuff said!


warchild
NYC

 

[gonnagetjacked]

dam this gets my blood boiling!!

It's too bad people are so misinformed, it's all about power, control and greed.

It's too bad the American public will never know the truth..

 

[yardrock]

As soon as Gary Condit kills another intern, or a terrorist attack takes place on US soil, or the Pope blows another alter boy, the steroid concern will go away. Its all media bullshit. It happens every couple of years. Love all your letters!!!!!!!

 

[Big A]

I hate to say it, but your letters are going the wrong way about it.

I have owned numerous companies since I was 20 and I have years of experience of 'manipulating' others, including enemies into doing what I want them to do. It's a dog eat dog world and this is the way to survive.

The trick is that you don't start telling the guy off, especially from the first sentance - he will just throw your letter in the bin without even reading it.

Instead you attack the system and the newspapers, etc, all the while being polite and friendly to him, while you are pointing out to him that he has been tricked and misinformed by people that don't really care for him to know the truth. You make HIM feel like a victim in this matter. THEN, he will take your side and seriously look into this matter, because he will think that he will be doing it for his own interest, even though he's doing it for yours.

 

[preist943]

i do agree with you BIG-A and i know alot of thought went into thoes letters but guys ill tell ya i really dont think e-mails or letters even make it to whom you send these guys will stand up and yell from the roof top as long as it gets them in the pappers and more votes so the can continue to keep there job of doing nothing but talking about doing something it seems all they do is argue with eachother and pass laws to give them a reason for being there big brother is alive and well and onley swayed by money if we had someone to lobby for us and donate 1.2mill to whom evers fund we would be heard maybe lol

 

[Animal]

You are all wrong

As long as you keep paying into the system and keep voting them back into office, all your letter writing is for naught and they will do what they want.

Don't give them your money and vote them out and until then, it's business as usual and that's why we got into this mess in the first place. Nobody gives a shit and just votes for whoever puts out the most advertisements or with women, whoever looks better.

Pretty good way to run a country, that is by letting the ignorant masses vote and then you can give it to them up the ass because they voted for it and will vote for you again!

This place is way to fucked up to waste your time writing letter that won't be read as you have no special interest dollars to back you.

 

[MikeS]

Many guys have gotten replies. Its is a generic letter-and auto reply. We dont know if these letters will be read and replied to in the future. So - please I usge you, fax this asshole!
202-224-1193 Wash DC
701-250-4484 North Dakoda
Please dont let your thoughts and letters go to waste-take the time to fax them!

 

[preist943]

about my last reply i forgot to say A+ for trying to do something

 

[Animal]

I was just wondering about history

Once upon a time there was an important event that made an oppressive government take note. The oppressed and unrepresented subjects stopped paying fees and taxes and even threw some of the oppressive governments shit into the water.

Anybody remember the boston tea party?

There is a reason it worked and again, it's dollars!