Thank you were do we draw the line. Cocaine helps performance (believe you me)... but then again, there's a ton of borderline substances. After all, wasn't ARod's substance potentially not on the banned list at the time. That is still what's unclear.
Regardless... Troy Polamalu takes a shot to the ribs in a football game, gets three intense painkilling shots, so he can move and play again.???? That's not playing to the "normal" human condition... which is whole point.
Is it illegal, because the govt says it's cheating?? NO
It's illegal due to the health condition.
What everyone is hung up (flasssssssssssssshy) is it gives an unfair advantage. There are plenty of legal ways to get around that as well too (see cortisone shots, which I think requires a prescription, as would steroids)... but that wasn't the point, right?
Otherwise, anyone testing postiive for ANY illegal substance should be ridiculed. Maybe a star reliever de-copes with the stress and heat with a doobie every night... is that right?
Nothing is borderline. Players in Major LEague Baseball are not allowed to take *ANY* illegal substances, be it performance enhancing drugs or illegal drugs or any banned substance. To do so is against the rules.
Commisioner Fay Vincent said this clearly in a 1991 memo to all major league baseball teams and the Union
"players were forbidden from taking
any illegal substance. He specifically mentioned steroids in the memo and encouraged the clubs to take a get-tough policy on players thought to be using steroids."
Vincent was on the record that steroid use was against the rules.
players were not tested till 2003...steroids, and all other illegal substances were still banned and against the rules of baseball.
things that are allowed to be used, such as cortisone shots, or pain pills are well known to be within the rules that are the agreed upon types of medications allowed to be used by athletes depending on the rules of the governing body of the sports they participate in.
If a drug is on the banned list, it is banned. Players may not use it without breaking the rules of their sport...be that drug illegal or performance enhancing.