Drugs, Baseball, and ADHD

Very recently, award winning pitcher, Roger Clemens, testified before congress that he did not use steroids despite the fact that his personal trainer testified that he injected Clemens with steroids.

But steroids aren’t the only drug of choice for professional baseball players, so are stimulant medications like Ritalin, or Adderall. However, Major League Baseball (MLB) has a strict policy regarding doping. Mandatory drug testing began in 2004. At that time, a positive test for steroids resulted only in a referral to treatment — not a suspension. After considerable negotiation between MLB and the player’s union, current first-time offenses result in a mandatory 50-game suspension. Second offenses result in a 100 game suspension. Third strike and you’re out for a lifetime ban. These harsh anti-doping measures were settled in November 2005. To see that they were followed, MLB also created the independent system administrator. They hired physician Bryan Smith.

According to USA today, “Congress took issue with the increased rate at which Smith was approving therapeutic-use exemptions for players with ADHD. Smith approved 103 therapeutic-use exemptions for ADHD drugs in 2007, 75 more than the previous season. The suggestion from Tierney [Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass] was that players were using drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall after amphetamines were added to baseball’s list of banned substances.”

Given the use of steroids among baseball players to increase performance in a very highly competitive field has raised considerable suspicion among members of congress and the public in general.

Newsweek reports:

According to records MLB officials turned over to congressional investigators as part of George Mitchell’s probe into steroid use in baseball, the number of players getting “therapeutic use exemptions” from baseball’s amphetamines ban jumped in one year from 28 to 103—which means that, suddenly, 7.6 percent of the 1,354 players on major-league rosters had been diagnosed with ADD.

One possible reason for this increase: in 2005 baseball banned the use of “greenies,” amphetamines that help players remained focused and energetic through the rigors of a 162-game season. Amphetamines were once as common as deli spreads in big-league clubhouses—in some, greenies were used to spike the coffee. Players are now seeking doctors’ prescriptions for ADD medications, usually Ritalin and Adderall, apparently to replace the now-illegal energy boosting drugs. (Ritalin is the trade name for the drug methylphenidate, and Adderall is an amphetamine-dextroamphetamine; they are both considered stimulants.)

Only the players know why they need stimulants. Perhaps some of the players do have ADHD. It’s difficult to say. We do know that for many years players have used stimulant drugs to increase their performances in a highly competitive field where their livelihoods depend on performance. When amphetamines were banned, exemptions for stimulant medication went up. It does draw suspicion. It also depicts the incredible lengths we go to when money is involved.