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State Representative Joe Atkins
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4192
For more information contact: Ben Schweigert 651-296-5809
NEWS COLUMN
Little Leaguers Help Atkins Target Steroid Traffickers
With the help of a half dozen Little League ballplayers, including two of his own sons, state lawmaker Joe Atkins introduced legislation that will toughen penalties for those selling illegal steroids in Minnesota.
“I’m here today, at the field where I grew up playing baseball, with the Little Leaguers I help coach, to just say no to the Jose Cansecos and Jason Giambis that have turned baseball into a giant chemistry experiment gone awry," Representative Atkins said while standing at a ball field at Groveland Park in Inver Grove Heights. “The goal of this bill is to inject honesty back into sports.”
Criticizing weak drug policies and poor enforcement in professional sports, Atkins said, “Pro sports have struck out when it comes to steroids.” He added, “In Minnesota, an employee caught using drugs usually gets fired. In major league baseball, he gets a 10-day vacation while he serves a brief suspension. That’s wrong, and it sends a terrible message to our kids.”
Anabolic steroids are highly dangerous drugs, especially for young adults and teens. Used illegally by athletes to increase muscle size and strength and enhance performance, there are myriad side effects. They can include heart, liver and kidney failure, depression, paranoia, impotence, stunted growth, and uncontrollable anger commonly called “Roid Rage,”
Atkins’ steroid legislation attacks the steroid problem is several ways. First, it creates tougher penalties for selling steroids, especially to minors – up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. It also updates Minnesota’s existing law, which prohibits only about 10% of the steroids currently on the market. Finally, it would bring Minnesota into conformance with federal law on the subject, making enforcement of steroids laws easier.
The bill has received strong bipartisan support, and is co-authored by State Representative Tim Wilkin (R-Eagan). It has been referred to the House Public Safety Committee for a hearing.
Illegal steroid use among athletes has become like an arms race over the last few years. When a new illegal steroid is devised and athletes start to use it, law enforcement and sports oversight agencies race to find a test to detect it. While that test is being developed, however, illegal steroid manufacturers are concocting new undetectable drugs, or devising masking agents that frustrate the test’s ability to detect the steroid.
“Unfortunately, Minnesota is still at the starting line in this race, since we haven’t updated our statute for years,” noted Representative Atkins. Adopted well over a decade ago, Minnesota’s current steroid law prohibits only about 10% of the illegal steroids in use today. State law is dramatically behind the times, making Minnesota a virtual safe haven for illegal steroid use and sale.
Although many people have been concerned about the growing use of steroids for years, the issue was recently given greater prominence by the publication of a book by Jose Canseco, in which he talks about his own history with performance-enhancing drugs. He even claims that he would not have been able to play at a Major League level without them. The book also describes the widespread and growing abuse of these drugs throughout professional baseball.
Recently, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Gary Sheffield testified before a federal grand jury as part of a steroids investigation. In addition, Canseco has fingered other Major League players, including former teammate Mark McGwire. At one point, Canseco asserted in that 80% of professional baseball players had used steroids. All of this has cast a shadow over many recent records and accomplishments in Major League Baseball.
Rep. Atkins finds all of this profoundly disturbing. “These are people that our kids admire and look up to,” he said. “Our greatest fear would be that our children would look at all of this and start to believe that cheating and harming their bodies through steroids is acceptable, or the only way to accomplish what their heroes have accomplished.”
Over the years, use of illegal steroids by young people has worsened. Without an appropriate level of focus on the negative health implications of steroid use and little fear by sellers of being caught, young athletes may be led to believe that steroids can help them achieve greatness on the playing field. According to statistics from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), steroid use among athletes increased by 27 percent from 1996 to 2000. Also, a University of Michigan survey shows that 54 percent more high school seniors took steroids in 2003 than did in 1996.
Many fear that a culture of steroid use is forming, in which young athletes who seek to excel or to play at a higher level feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to do so. The NCAA has recently stepped up its testing efforts, but these have been hampered by drug designers as they create substances that are increasingly difficult to detect.
“More and more people are using steroids at an earlier and earlier age,” Rep. Atkins said. “We can and we must reverse this trend. Part of doing that is to change the environment around these kids. We need to stop the use of steroids by their role models in professional sports, and we need to fix the permissive and outdated laws we have in Minnesota. We need to make sure that we are teaching our children about the values of good health and fair play and getting rid of steroids is an important part of that.”
Drinking milk while eating pizza with members of his baseball team, Atkins’ ten-year-old son, Tommy, agreed. “Steroids are bad for you,” he said, “We hope this becomes the law.”
Other little leaguers who joined Representative Atkins in calling for tougher steroid laws included Steven Rud, Evan Hewitt, Dan Eddy, and Thomas Helseth, all 5th graders at Hilltop Elementary School in Inver Grove Heights, and Atkins’ 11-year-old son, John, a 6th grader at Inver Grove Heights Middle School.
“Minnesota sports will be in better shape when we pass this,” Representative Atkins said, “Our goal is to make sports safer, cleaner, and fairer.”
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