Victor Conte founded the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO). It was founded in San Francisco.  The Government of the United States of America accused BALCO of distributing banned performance enhancing drugs. These drugs were innocently labeled as nutritional supplements. Under the Olympic Rules, the contents of these nutritional supplements are illegal. Its not nutritional supplements that are illegal but what taints these supplements.

Due to that, many tract athletes had to undergo drug testing. The test was conducted by the US Anti-Doping Agency.  Because of the proliferation of athletes taking performance enhancing drugs, many measures had to be taken. Baseball and football players were not an exception.

In 2002, Major League Baseball came up with a policy which sought to address steroid usage. This policy did not have enough teeth in it. If a player was found using steroids, he would only have to undergo treatment. It is not surprising that nobody was ever suspended. When the BALCO scandal erupted, Major League Baseball revised their policies and put serious penalties into their policies.

In 2005, the new policy came into effect. Players will be tested at least once every year. For the first time offense, the player will be suspended up to a maximum of ten days. For the second offense, the player will be suspended for thirty days and for the third offense, sixty days. If a player will be caught the fourth time, he will be suspended from playing for a year! Despite all that, if the player will be caught the fifth time, the Commissioner will have the discretion to impose any penalty.

The Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, is proposing a new policy which includes “three strikes and you’re out approach.” This means that for the first two offenses, you’ll just be suspended and for the third offense, you’ll be facing a lifetime of suspension. These are still proposals. The players and the owners have not yet agreed and accepted to this. 

Testing and these policies is not a deterrent for the players to use steroids. Undeniably, there have been players who have showed positive results. They cannot do anything else but face the appropriate penalty for taking the illegal drugs. But what is the appropriate penalty? There are many opinions as to what the appropriate penalty should be for these erring players. When word gets out that a player had been using steroids, it marks the end of his career and loss of fans. Apparently, that isn’t enough for a penalty.