“Any way you look at it, it’s wrong. Drugs won’t help you hit the ball,but they can make you recuperate consistently enough”
-Hank Aaron (Speaking about steroids)

Major League Baseball
finally worked out an agreement
on a new policy to fight the use of
steroids effective in the 2006 season.

By Amaury Pi-González

The new agreement increases penalties to players
who test positive for steroids. This new agreement
will also provide random amphetamine testing and who test positive on amphetamine for the first time
will be subject to mandatory evaluation and testing.

Click below for the information on the new policy.
Starting 2006 season MLB will also increase the frequence of testing. Every player will be tested at least twice during the season

Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig and
Players Association Executive Director Donald M.
Fehr announced the agreement in principle on
November 15, 2005.

Penalties for Steroids

Testing:

First time: 50 games suspension
Second time: 100 games
Third time: Lifetime ban. (With right to seek
reinstatement after 2 years with
arbitral review)

Conviction for
Possession:

First time: 60-80 games suspension
Second time: 120 games to 1 year
Third time: Lifetime ban. (With right to seek
reinstatement after 2 years with
arbitral review)

Conviction for
Distribution:

First time: 80-100 games suspenSION
Second time: Lifetime ban. (With right to seek
reinstatement after 2 years with
arbitral review)

Then Amphetamines is basically a lesser
amount of games for suspension with a maximun of 1 year suspension.

Every player will have:

-A Pre-season test/with spring tng physicals.
-B An unannounced test during the season on a
randomly selected date.
-C Additional year-round random testing
-D No matter how many times a player is tested
he remains subect to additional random esting.
-E Testing during the off season

Testing,testing and more testing. It seems laboratories are going to increase their revenues
starting next season. This was bound to happen
and hopefully these new measures will be the
beginning of the end for the rampart use of
steroids.