WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "George Mitchell is wrong not to urge annulling past baseball drug offenders' records and results," says ex White House drug spokesman Bob Weiner, who directed White House drug policy media at the Sydney Olympics and WADA media at the Salt Lake Olympics and assisted in the creation of WADA and USADA. "All Olympic sports have a stronger anti-drug program than what Mitchell proposes for documented offenders, past and present. Baseball's drug policy is a sham and will remain weak under Mitchell's proposals."
Weiner continued, "Baseball should annul the records of people like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and other performance-enhancing drug cheaters just as track and field has recently annulled the records, results, and medals of quintuple Olympic medalist Marion Jones and world record holders Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin. The Mitchell report is a step, but only a first one."
"Mitchell's proposal to have an independent agency conduct tests is a good one--they should use WADA or USADA directly. But his statement that there is no current test for other drugs like HGH is insufficient. Baseball's Commissioner should call for anonymous sources with evidence or witnesses to alert his office of players who have taken HGH."
"In addition, Mitchell ignores the massive use of dangerous amphetamine drugs as stimulants. Baseball only tests half (30) of the stimulants that WADA tests (60). A respected New York Times sports reporter told me that players have piles of them as 'greenies' and consider them harmless - let alone their cheating element." Bonds has already admitted taking amphetamines but claims he did not know what they were; he does know baseball offered no penalty.
"Mitchell's call for stronger standards as player renegotiations occur for 2011 is a huge and unnecessary delay of what must be done. Now that the Mitchell report has assembled the scope of the problem, baseball owners and players should adopt new standards and penalties immediately. Otherwise, the Mitchell report is 'full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,'" Weiner concluded.
Contact: Rebecca Vander Linde/Bob Weiner 301-283-0821 or 202-329-1700
Robert Weiner Associates
