"steroids... It can make a super athlete --incredible. Just legendary." -Jose Canseco

GAMES DRUG USERS PLAY -

Got Juice?

"I don’t recommend

steroids

for everyone, and I don’t recommend

growth hormones for everyone. But for certain individuals, I truly

believe, because I’ve experimented with it for so many years, that it

can make an average athlete a super athlete.

It can make a super

athlete --incredible. Just legendary."

Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images file

Mark McGwire, left, and Jose Canseco

-Jose Canseco

THEY PLAYED baseball when they were kids and they
played baseball during the whole time they grew up. While the rest
of us had to find jobs and resolve to play on a Saturday or Sunday,
they simply continued to play ball. They went to “camps” to train to
play the game better and they were paid to practice playing the
game. They all had good health, good care and excellent benefits,
including the adoration of friends, family and fans.
    For many of them, they signed multi-million dollar contracts and
made millions more in endorsements.
    What an enviable life.
    Not only were these guys blessed with certain qualities that most
of us do not have that are prized in this country, they were richly
rewarded for their blessings.
    Yet, it has now come to public notice that even that was not
enough for some of them. Some of them chose to eject illegal drugs
for the purpose of enhancement.
Former Major League baseball player, Jose Canseco has stated
illegal drug use in baseball is “rampant.” He admits he has ejected
drugs and claims to have injected other major leaguers. And he
states that there are other major players that shoot it themselves or
take drugs by other methods.
    If a star-studded life with wads of money, fame and the only
worries are how well a game is played, is not enough to prevent
these sports-gods from using drugs for enhancement, how can
anyone expect someone at the bottom of the social spectrum to “just
say no”?
    Jose Canseco calls it being “juiced.” That is the title of his book in
which he names others he witnessed using drugs.

"Baseball is the national pastime, and what you’re

saying is that the national past time is juiced,"

Mike

Wallace of 60 Minutes asked Canseco.

"Yeah. It is. And it's reality,

Canseco.

In his 16-year career as a Major League ball player, Canseco says that from his
first season, to his last in 2001, he used illegal anabolic steroids and human
growth hormones. In 1988, Canseco hit 42 home runs and stole 40 bases.
That was good enough for him to be MVP that year. In his career, Canseco
played for seven teams and hit a total of 462 home runs.

WALLACE: "

YOU SAY THIS, 'I WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A MAJOR

LEAGUE-CALIBER PLAYER WITHOUT STEROIDS.' RIGHT?”

CANSECO:

"WELL, IT'S A TRUE STATEMENT. NO IFS AND BUTS

ABOUT IT.”

At the top of Canseco’s list of heavy users is Jason Giambi, who won the MVP
award in 2000 and later went to the New York Yankees for an incedible $120
million, seven-year contract. Another heavy user would be 1998’s great, Mark
McGwire:

"What we did more times than I can count was go into a

bathroom stall together, shoot up steroids. After

batting practice or right before the game, Mark and I

would duck into a stall in the men's room, load up our

syringes and inject ourselves. I would often inject

Mark."

-Jose Canseco

-Jose Canseco
from Juiced

[NOTE: In a statement to 60 Minutes, McGwire said: "Once and for all, I did not
use steroids nor any illegal substance.”]

McGwire and Canseco played together for the Oaklands A’s under manager
Tony La Russa. When asked whether there was a lot of steroid use during that
era, Russa replied, "The product of our good play and the size and strength of
our players -- Mark was a great example. What we saw was a lot of hard work.
And hard work will produce strength gains and size gains."

In 1992, Canseco was traded to the Texas Rangers where he played among
the future American League MVPs Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez, and
there was also Rafael Palmeiro, who played against Canseco when the two of
them were growing up in Miami. In his book, Canseco writes that he used
anabolic steroids with all three players.

Rafael Palmeiro with
Curt Schilling at
congressional hearing on
March 17, 2005.

CANSECO:

“RAFAEL PALMEIRO, JUAN GONZALEZ, IVAN

RODRIGUEZ, I INJECTED THEM. ABSOLUTELY."

[NOTE: All three players denied the allegations.]

Canseco played three seasons in Texas, and then two in Boston, then returned
to Oakland and McGwire in 1997. Coincidently, McGwire would become MVP
the next year. It was at this time Canseco also hooked up with Giambi who
became MVP a few years after. Canseco writes that Giambi was the most
abusive steroid user in baseball.

"I have never used
steroids. Period."
Or did he? Click HERE

WALLACE:

"SO YOU'D SHOOT UP STEROIDS AND

GROWTH HORMONES WITH JASON GIAMBI AS WELL

CANSECO:

"YES, OH YEAH. I MEAN, IT WASN'T A BIG

DEAL. IT WAS COMMON GROUND."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Giambi admitted to a federal grand
jury that he had been used steroids in 2001, but accused Canseco of being
“delusional.” [Notice Giambi cleverly places his drug use after his MVP year of
2000.]
The New York Yankees have acknowledged deleting all references to steroids
in Giambi’s contract upon request by his agent, Arn Tellem. This clause is quite
important because Giambi is still owed $82 million by the Yankees. But the
question that the Yankees have to face is did they know of Giambi’s steroid use
when they signed him – and if they did, how can they justify ignoring it?

In a press conference Giambi said: “When I went into that grand jury, I told the
truth." He said he was sorry five times and apologized three times to the New
York Yankees, his teammates and to his fans. But he never said why. He never
talked about using steroids, never mentioned the word.

“I know the fans might want more, but at this present time because of all

the legal matters, I can’t get into specifics. Someday, hopefully, I will be

able to.”

-Jason Giambi

Highlights from Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How
Baseball Got Big:

• McGwire introduced Giambi to performance-enhancing drugs and the

three of them used to shoot steroids together. Canseco says players on the A's

talked openly about injecting in the bathroom stalls, and the clubhouse was an

abuser's paradise.

• During the great home run race of 1998, a reporter's accidental discovery

of androstenedione in McGwire's locker, may not have been an accident.

Canseco says he believes McGwire put the bottle of the steroid "pre-cursor" in

his locker so it would be found, thus creating a smokescreen for his extensive

use of illegal steroids. Andro, recently criminalized, was legal at the time.

• Some Major League Baseball owners welcomed or condoned steroid use

because they believed a power surge would bring back fans after the

disastrous 1994-95 work stoppage.

• The Players Association condoned steroid use because a home run

barrage would mean bigger salaries for members and union leaders.

• President Bush, who was the Rangers' general managing partner in the

early '90s, must have known that some of his players were using steroids but

chose not to address the issue. White House spokesman Ken Lisaius declined

to comment on Canseco's book, but noted that Bush had urged players, coaches

and owners to work together to rid sports of steroids during the 2004 State of

the Union address.

• Both baseball and the media routinely vilified black and Latin players who

misbehaved while they shielded white stars - especially McGwire - who

engaged in similar conduct.

• Canseco had sex with hundreds of women - most players, he says, cheat

on their wives - but clears the air about his most famous relationship: Canseco

says he never had sex with Madonna, although he did spend a night making out

with the Material Girl in her Manhattan apartment.

• Steroids played no role in the injuries that plagued Canseco's career and

that he would not have even become a big-league player if it weren't for

performance-enhancing drugs.

• "The challenge is not to find a top player who has used steroids. The

challenge is to find a top player who hasn't."

• "The summer of 1998 ... was the high-water mark for steroids in baseball.

At the time, I joked that so many guys went rushing to hide their vials in the

locker room when the media showed up that it was like watching roaches

scurrying for cover after the lights go on."

• "I think we all know that it's the players who were juiced, not the balls."

• "I was the player who made it acceptable for others to do steroids -

because after a while it was clear the owners were leaving the door open for

me to educate them, no questions asked."

• "Like me, Mark (McGwire) was curious about what different types of

steroids could do for him, and how they could make him bigger and stronger.

But he needed a little time to get used to the idea of actually using them, and so

far as I know, he didn't actually start using steroids until after his rookie

season. So the 49 home runs he hit that year probably came without any

chemical enhancement."

• "I don't have any videotape footage of me poking Mark McGwire in the

butt with a needle. But this is my challenge: I'll take a lie detector test on the

subject in a minute, and I'll pass with a perfect score."

• On romance with Madonna: "As curious as I was, though, I just wasn't

that into her. ... There was no real chemistry there."

• "Ever since those (BALCO stories) hit the stands, people have finally

begun to talk about steroids as a reality, not just a dark rumor. ... That was a big

step forward, and I hope the discussion surrounding this book will be the next

one."

• "Tony La Russa has won a lot of games as a manager. He has also lost a

lot of clubhouses. You'd be amazed at how many of his ex-players just can't

stand the guy. I'm not saying this out of spite. Tony and I had our differences, but

that was a long time ago. ... But he's a good example of this same pattern of big

names in baseball who get a free ride in the media most of the time."

• "McGwire and (Sammy) Sosa brought the game of baseball back to life

that summer, pure and simple. They generated so much excitement, so much

interest, that the cloud that had been hanging over baseball since the 1994

strike was finally lifted. ... And why? Because the owners had been smart

enough not to chase steroid use out of the game."

• "That was the way the union handled the steroid issue ... The Players

Association was as complicit as the owners in the explosion of steroids in the

game. ... To those on the inside, there was no mystery over why the union took

such a hard line against steroid testing. ... Their concern was always making

money for the players, and if the players were remaking their bodies using

steroids to do so, the MBPA (sic) never lifted a finger to stop it."

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In an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2002, Canseco said he suspected 80%
of players were using steroids. In 2003, an anonymous survey, introduced as
the first step in baseball's first anti-steroids program, found that 5% to 7% of
player tests were positive.
What does this tell us? That many players are not using or were clean when
they were tested, but that Canseco has met so many that do use, he imagines
it must be most all he knows.
Whatever the number, add this scandal to the BALCO one and the Olympics
scandal and you have quite a number of great sports heroes that are as willing
to use drugs as those that suffer in prison because they simply wanted to
enhance their lives.

KILLER SPORTS

Steroids didn't kill
Taylor -
Baseball did!

“He's (Taylor)
doing three sets of
10, three sets of
12 and just doing
it like it's nothing,"
recalls Ajello (a
friend), who said
to himself, "Whoa.
Like, you know,
this stuff really
works."

A nationwide study showed that nearly half a million
adolescents have tried steroids. Two recent deaths
have been blamed on steroid use - Taylor Hooton and
Rob Garibaldi.
For the sake of "saving the children," Congress held
hearings.

Taylor Hooton

"I walked up the
stairs. And when I
turned the corner,
there he was. He
was hangin’ on the
door with a belt.”
-Gwen Hooton

“Why didn’t we
see this? What
did we miss?
What could we
have done
differently, asked
his mother, Gwen.

“He went from a
calm person, like
we are talking now,
to these rages,
yelling and
screaming, and
hittin’ on the table,
and stompin’ out of
the room,” says
Gwen Hooton.
“Totally un-Taylor
like. And then, 15
minutes later, he’d
come in and sit
down. ‘Oh, I’m so
sorry I acted like
that. I promise I won’
t do it again.’”

At 16, Taylor was
already big by any
standard: 6 feet, 2
inches, and pushing
180 pounds as a
junior. But the only
way to get even
bigger, he figured,
was steroids, which
were not cheap.
They can cost as
much as a few
hundred dollars for
roughly a month's
worth of doses.

How did Taylor pay
for the steroids? He
stole. He used his
mother’s ATM card.

Where did he buy
steroids? “I
remember it was
right in the front of
a gym,” says Parker.

Taylor may have
been injecting
himself as often
as three times a
week. Like any
hard-core drug,
steroids alter the
body’s chemistry,
boosting muscle
development and
growth. And that’s
just what Taylor
wanted: big
muscles, like his
idols in the Majors.

But the side effects
on Taylor's mind
and body were
transforming him
into someone no
one had ever seen
before. Taylor’s
face had puffed
up, and during
the spring, he
gained nearly 30
pounds and
developed a
severe case of
acne on his
back.

At the time, though,
they simply thought
Taylor needed
professional help,
so they sent him to
see Dr. Babette
Farkas, a
psychiatrist.
Taylor told her he
was stacking --
taking multiple
steroids orally and
by injection at the
same time, hoping
that they’d achieve
better results.

And, it turns out, he
was doing them
right under his
parents’ nose. Did
Gwen ever suspect
that her son was
using steroids?

“Oh yeah, we went
up to his room, and
I did find some big
white pills,” says
Gwen. “I said, ‘What
are these big white
pills?’ ‘Oh, they’re
nothing.’ I said,
‘Well, we’re gonna
throw ‘em away.’
‘They’re vitamins, or
something like that,’
he told me.”

Dr. Farkas told
Taylor to quit, and
she helped him tell
his mom the truth.
Then she
prescribed an anti-
depressant.

“I put him on
Lexapro in low
dose, knowing that
there was the
depression from the
steroid use as well
as the probability
that, as he came off
of them, he was
going to be even
more depressed, in
a child who had
some self-esteem
issues and some self-
confidence issues,”
says Farkas. “He had
quit the steroids, to
my knowledge. And
that’s what he
reported.”

On a family
vacation to London,
Taylor stole again.
It happened two
weeks before his
death. His parents
found computer
equipment in his
luggage and
decided to crack
down. When they
got home, they took
away the keys to his
beloved truck, and
confiscated his cell
phone. He took it
hard. The next
morning, Taylor
came looking for his
mom.

“He got up about 9
a.m. And I'm sitting
here on the sofa
and he came in
and sat by me. And
we’re sitting close to
each other. And he
goes, ‘Mom, please,
please, I’ll sign a
contract. I’ll do
anything. Please,
please don’t let me
be grounded. I
promise I won’t do
anything again,’”
says Gwen.

“I said, ‘You know,
Taylor, this time
you really have to
be grounded.’ So
he reached over
like this and
grabbed my hand.
And he squeezed it.
And he went
upstairs.”

Barely one month
after his birthday,
Taylor, 17, went to
his room, buckled
two belts together,
fastened one end to
his bedroom door
and wrapped the
other end around
his neck. Then, he
hanged himself.

The police
searched his room
and discovered a
photograph with his
own face cut out.
On the floor they
found a note that
read: “I love you
guys. I’m sorry about
everything.”
Wrapped in an
American flag in his
nightstand was a
vial of hard-core
anabolic steroids.

In hindsight, does
Dr. Farkas think the
steroids played a
role in Taylor’s
death? “Yes. No
doubt in my mind,”
says Farkas.

"With Rob,
baseball was
life," a friend, P.
J. Poiani said.
"He didn't have a
whole lot of other
outlets in life. …
The way he
looked at it, the
only thing he was
good at was
baseball."

"There is no doubt in our minds
that steroids killed our son."

-Denise Garibaldi

HOUSE HEARING ON STEROID USE
IN MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
(3/17/2005)

The hearing was entitled: "Restoring Faith in America's Pastime: Evaluating Major
League Baseball's Efforts to Eradicate Steroid Use". The Committee heard
testimonies from current and former players and officials.

Mark McGwire

Jose Canseco

“I will do everything in my
power to help the game…
***My heart goes out to every
parent whose son or
daughter were victims of
steroid use.***What I will not
do, however, is participate in
naming names and
implicating my friends and
teammates.”

"because of my fear of
future prosecution ... I
cannot be totally
candid with this
committee."

-Jose Canseco

Canseco had asked for immunity from
prosecution in exchange for his
testimony, but that request was refused.

"My lawyers have advised me that I cannot
answer these questions without jeopardizing
my friends, my family and myself,"

, "I'm not here to talk about
the past."

-Mark McGwire

Rafael Palmeiro

McGwire retired in 2001. He has previously admitted
using androstenedione, a precursor to anabolic
steroids and a legal substance at the time.

Sammy Sosa

Rep. Paul Kanjorski
(D-Penn.)

“Suppose if someone came out with smart
pills and that smart pill could make you 10
times smarter than you are right now. And
they may put a warning on there: 'It could cost
you five or ten years of your life expectancy' –
how many people would be tempted to win a
Nobel Prize and take that smart pill?”

Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.)

“Talking about that pill to make
us 10 times smarter – I think it
could be mandated for
Congress – to save the Nation
– I’m not sure that that wouldn’t
be one (drug) we would give
ourselves a special exemption,
as we do so many other things.”

Curt Schilling

“I would guess
that maybe 5 to 10
of my teammates
in the last 15
years are using – I
wouldn’t know any
more.”

"Let’s not fool ourselves.
Kids use steroids
because they work - and
work well."

-Denise and Ray Garibaldi

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.)

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) read the purported regulations that
Baseball offered for steroid use:

1. Players are allowed to leave in the middle
of a urine test;

2. There are a bunch of substances that are
not included on the list;

3. The players and the League have to agree
on what is going to be banned;

4. 1st offense is a $10,000 fine, not
publicized, kept quiet, and;

5. If the Government investigates the (drug)
policy, it goes away – [the parties, players
and management] just get rid of it.

??? Yuck!

"Life, Liberty,
and the
Pursuit to enhance one's athletic ability."

No one blaming the game itself.

No one blaming themselves for not realizing that some people
might not be able to cope with rejection and/or defeat.

The Garibaldis and Hootons are in denial.
They saw the problem clearly. They ignored it, hoping it would go
away, that some doctor or drug could cure their sons.

What about their own parenting? Should anyone question it?

Why were their sons so dependent on a simple game?

What was it about their sons that excelling at baseball meant so
much that to fail achieving a spot on the team was worse than
life? What parent could not see that coming, if it was indeed that
extreme?

Why
would
anyone
want
to
be
big
and
strong?

"Hard work will produce strength gains and size gains."

-Oakland A’s manager Tony La Russa

Who ever heard of anyone that could enhance their
performance or strength by digesting a certain substance?

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Contact us

Make that two,
Baseball killed

Rob Garibaldi

Rob Garibaldi
shot himself in the
head on Oct. 1,
2002, at the age
of 24. For years,
he had been told
that he had all the
ingredients of a
major league
baseball player
except size, so he
started using
steroids to gain
the bulk he
needed to make
the big time.

At age 15, 5'9" -
130 pounds, and
playing on a
scouting team
sponsored by the
California Angels.

By age 21, Rob
had been told
frequently that
except for his size
(5'11" 160 lbs), he
had all the
makings of a
professional
ballplayer. His
hitting, running
speed, throwing
arm strength, and
defensive skills
were considered
excellent. He was
told the only way
he could improve
his game was to
“get bigger.”
Determined to
meet this goal,
Rob listened and
took the action he
was led to believe
was necessary.
Overtime, Rob
gained that 50
pounds and
became the
powerhouse the
steroids promised.

At age 22, before
and during his last
season at USC, he
was prescribed
antidepressants, at
least one of which
has since been
linked to possible
suicidal thoughts
in children.

Rob Garibaldi,
however, also
struggled with
other issues. His
mother Denise
said he was
challenged
academically
because of
dyslexia and also
took medication
for attention
deficit
hyperactivity
disorder.

Garibaldi learned
that he could not
play in an out-of-
state summer
league because
he had failed a
class and would
have to make up
the units at a
junior college. He
returned home to
take the class and
became
depressed.
Denise, a clinical
psychologist,
referred him to a
psychiatrist who
prescribed an
antidepressant.

Denise said her
son was in good
spirits when he
returned to USC in
the fall of 2000.
The school
provided extra
academic support
services, but
Garibaldi still
failed a midterm.
When he got the
news, he hit his
bedroom dresser
with a bat.

Over the next
several months,
Garibaldi was
easily agitated
and got into
arguments with
roommates, who
took to locking
their doors out of
fear of his
eruptions. He slept
through one
practice and
missed the bus for
an away game.

In 2002, when
Garibaldi was not
drafted, Denise
said he fell into "a
total depressive
state." At one
time, Rob
assaulted his
father Ray and the
police were
called. He spent
five days
involuntarily
hospitalized.
Later, the family
tried an
intervention but
his four-week stay
in a rehabilitation
center was cut
short when he
assaulted an
employee.

Rob stayed at a
friend's house for
a week and when
he returned home,
his mother said
he seemed
calmer. He had
plans to look for a
job and talked
about trying out
with a pro team.

Denise did not
know until later
that her son had
already stolen a
gun from a
shooting range.
He left the house
in the middle of
the night and,
after a long drive,
parked a half-
block from the
family's home and
shot himself. He
died 18 hours
later.

The Drug fLaws.com
analysis of the drug laws by dennis mcbride