NASCAR officials announced a broad-reaching policy that requires mandatory annual testing – starting prior to next season’s Daytona 500 – for illegal substance use for all drivers, crew members and sanctioning body officials in Sprint Cup, as well as the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series.
In addition, regular random drug testing – including, for the first time ever, testing for steroid use – will take place throughout the season. NASCAR estimates it will test up to 14 drivers per series per weekend.
Lastly, all team owners will be responsible for – and must share records with NASCAR – having all company employees regularly tested for drug use.
While the sanctioning body said it will not maintain a list of banned substances, per se, that’s actually a good thing in the bigger picture. If you list only certain substances that are illegal, a smart attorney could make a case that a driver, crew member or official was not guilty for using a substance that may not have been listed – be it illegal or not.
NASCAR is getting to a level of implementing an enhanced-drug testing system.
What is your opinion on drugs in sports and why it should or should not be allowed?
In Latin America, the new frontier of baseball, they are injecting kids with steroids. Grown men are taking needles and plunging them into the backsides of 16-year-olds in the name of profit.
Over the last two months, 40 players in the Dominican Republic have tested positive for steroids. Ten more from Venezuela were caught. Most are teenagers.
Money is at the center of the latest steroids scandal that baseball can’t seem to wrap its arms around. After dropping the last three years, the percentage of positive tests among players in the Dominican Summer League has jumped from 2.5 percent to 3.3 percent, according to figures provided by MLB. Escalating bonuses in Latin America – Oakland shelled out a record $4.25 million for 16-year-old Dominican pitcher Michel Inoa in July – have caused a feeding frenzy among the street agents, known as buscones, which translates loosely to “searchers.”
All of them want a crack at the treasure chest. If that means giving illicit drugs to a kid ignorant of steroid use’s repercussions – or, in many cases, lying to him about what the drugs really are – so be it. The buscones get their cut of a signing bonus whether a kid is clean or dirty.
For complete article = Yahoo Sports: Slowing steroid use in Latin nations is daunting