Ban amphetamines from baseball

In this week's Sports Illustrated (Peyton Manning cover), on page 68, at the bottom in the left-hand box, Tom Verducci alludes to the prevalence of amphetamine abuse in the big leagues:

Players have been taking [amphetamines] before games for at least five decades, which is why it's unlikely the union would go that far [and agree to add them to the list of banned substances].

Players "bean up" to enhance focus and alertness and to give their tired and sore bodies a jolt of energy. The pills are often taken with coffee or highly caffeinated energy drinks.

As T.J. Quinn reports for the New York Daily News:

Greenies have been one of baseball's worst-kept secrets for decades, and many say that if amphetamines are added to the test list, it could mean a major change in the game. Many clubhouses have separate pots of coffee for players and coaches, with the players' variety carrying more than caffeine.

"One of our coaches tried the players' coffee one time," a former Yankee said. "He went on for days saying, 'Wow - you guys have really good coffee.'"

The spinach steroids issue has burst more than few blood vessels over the last few months, but no one seems to give a damn about amphetamine abuse. That should change. Now that steroids have our attention, let's consider the role of the even-more ubiquitous methylenedioxymethamphetamine/caffeine cocktails.

The easy equation of anabolic steroids with "performance-enhancing drugs" will bite the players in the ass and, in the end I think, do them some good. Fans are not upset about steroids per se; they are upset about the evidence that Popeye Barry Bonds has been taking spinach steroids in the off-season to magically create his Hulk-like physique. Like all forms of amphetamines, Amphetamine is widely recognized as a performance-enhanching drug. As Quinn writes:

Major League Baseball and the Players' Association have been haggling in recent weeks over whether amphetamines are performance-enhancing drugs. If they determine they are, then players could be tested for their presence up to four times a season. If not, then the drugs would be treated like cocaine, heroin or marijuana, and baseball could test for them only if it has "probable cause."

"We think they're (performance-enhancing)," one major league official said. "The union doesn't."

Union officials refused to comment, but one veteran player, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he expected the two sides to agree that amphetamines are indeed performance-enhancers. The union has long held that players should not be subject to random testing for recreational drugs because they should be afforded the presumption of innocence. But union leaders have been willing to amend the steroids policy because performance-enhancers change the landscape of the game.

As that last paragraph indicates, obviously the union knows that amphetamines are "performance-enhancing" drugs. The drug is already prohibited by both the International Olympic Committee and the National Football League. As Quinn explains:

To many anti-doping experts, as well as players, there is no question that amphetamines enhance performance. A landmark 1960 study at Harvard University found that among swimmers, throwers and runners given amphetamines, 75% of the athletes showed improvement in their performances.

Dave Hannigan described the issue yesterday for the Guardian, a British newspaper. Tony Gwynn has described "greenie" usage as "rampant":

"Guys feel like steroids are cheating and greenies aren't. Sooner or later it's going to get out that there's a greenie problem, and it's a huge one. Guys feel like they need an edge. It didn't seem like there was a lot of it earlier in my career but I know that coming down to the end of my career it was rampant in my club. I would just laugh at the guys. I'd be like: 'You're 23 years old. What the heck, look at me, I'm in my late 30s, and I'm taking two aspirin and saying, let's go'."

Like [Jim] Bouton 30 years previously [for the descriptions in his book, Ball Four], Gwynn was roundly criticised for his candour, yet when the dust settled the substance of his allegations remained intact.

"I would say he is pretty accurate in that statement," the Atlanta Braves outfielder Chipper Jones said of Gwynn's comments. "There is probably a little bit more of a problem as far as that goes than with the steroids. This is a tough, tough lifestyle. Guys are paid a lot of money to show up at the right time and do their job and sometimes they need a little help."

These drugs have been illegal since the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. They create a profound, "performance-enhancing" high, as this website explains:

Amphetamines stimulate the central nervous system by potentiating the effects of norepinephrine, a neurohormone which activates parts of the sympathetic nervous system. Adrenalin like effects are produced at the brain's synaptic sites, causing the heart and bodily systems to race at high speed: Blood pressure rises, along with the pulse pressure and heart rate. Appetite is suppressed because of the drug's action on the control centers of the hypothalamus and the depression of gastrointestinal activity. The effects may last from four to fourteen hours, depending on dosage. Amphetamines may be detected in blood and urine by lab tests up to seventy-two hours after ingestion.

Amphetamines are quickly assimilated into the bloodstream. The roller-coaster ride begins with a tremendous rush accompanied by feelings of elation and confidence. Unlimited power seems to be at the speeder's fingertips. The pupils dilate; the heart pumps frantically, breathing is rapid, and the mucous membranes get dry. Speech becomes rata-tat-tat gibberish. The user may focus in on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. But the speeder doesn't care because he feels he is at the height of his intellectual powers. This initial flash of brilliance is succeeded by a euphoria, an elevated mood; as the body continues to release stored energy from its reserves; Physically as well as mentally charged up, he feels capable of superman feats. Life is a cartoon and the speeder is the Roadrunner.

Wow. That's vivid stuff. On second thought, I'm sure that description of the high is seriously embellished and exaggerated. It reads like Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an Opium Eater. If speed is like that for you on your first time, much of the reason for that has to be that you have these expectations. There's no way a player taking speed 100 times a year has this same euphoria day after day after day. That defies logic and science.

Still, there is a high, and this "high" is followed by a "low" which often requires, for the habitual user, another dosage, unless the user is willing to endure the full crash, which can take more than a day. Amphetamine usage impairs sleep and can cause malnutrition through loss of appetite. High-dosage users sometimes develop paranoid feelings and persecution complexes. The drugs have nasty side effects.

Where does the issue stand right now? As John Shea reported reported for the San Francisco Chronicle on Wednesday:

[Union chief Donald] Fehr has been opposed to more drug testing, citing privacy rights, Selig has fought for a policy similar to one used in the minor leagues: four tests year-round and a 15-game penalty for the first offense. He also wants amphetamines to be on the banned list and treated as performance- enhancers, a possible stumbling block.

Baseball fans eager to support the BALCO witchhunt better get behind an amphetamine ban. Absolutely those things should be banned and included in any stricter drug-testing program. All of the arguments used to persecute suspected juicers apply here. They are illegal; they "enhance performance;" they set a poor example for the children.

At the same time, though, baseball fans should also know that baseball has not been "ruined" by steroid use or by amphetamine use. The game is just as tainted and just as clean as it has always been. The playing field has not been tilted in any one player's favor by any one substance or cheating crutch. All of the different things players do as they seek some advantage probably cancel each other out.

I for one think the ability of these drugs to actually enhance baseball performance is probably overstated. Sure, maybe the first time a player does speed, he'll have a great game. But the next day, unless he takes speed again, he's going to be wiped out and have a poor game. I can't believe that speed confers any long-term advantage that we would see in, for example, wildly corrupted statistics.

Another thing to remember is that the players are the last people to trust on the question of whether or not steroids or amphetamines enhance their performance. As always, when it comes to the question of drug abuse, the biggest fools are the users themselves. If they knew that amphetamines would give them no more "edge," long-term, than daily consumption of two liters of Mountain Dew or six cans of Red Bull, then they wouldn't be breaking the law and polluting themselves with this stuff.

As I've written about the steroids issue, one of the things I've tried to say, again and again, is that people are drawn to illegal drugs because the politically-motivated hysteria about them sends the message that they are the ultimate cheat, imbued with some kind powerful, magical, dangerous, world-changing, godly power. We don't have to exaggerate or fabricate evidence that illegal drugs "enhance performance" to ban them.

One more time: we don't have to exaggerate or fabricate evidence that illegal drugs enhance performance to ban them. And by speaking more honestly about their limited ability to help, we'll do a lot more to discourage their use than we would by fueling the black-market with sensational, hyperbolic accounts comparing them to Popeye's spinach. Hannigan quotes an anonymous major-league manager as saying this:

"This is all going to be very interesting," said one Major League club manager in an interview with New York's Daily News last Sunday, "because if we do get steroids out of our sport, which we should, and we get amphetamines out, it will be real interesting to see what it does to the level of play. I know that's a scary statement but it's true."

What will happen to the level of play when amphetamines are removed? Probably, nothing. One of the most evil things about drug use is the fact that such a large percentage of Americans buy into the myth that "drugs change everything." Think the players will be tired with no amphetamines? Consider that they might sleep well in-season for the first time in their career. Think the players will get run down? Consider that, with a healthier appetite, they will probably eat more and better. If anything, removing amphetamine will probably elevate the level of play a teeny-tiny bit. And the kids will have better role models to emulate.

But most things will never change, no matter what. Daryle Ward, for example, will still have to avoid the buffet table.