DRUG WAR SHOULD BE FOUGHT ON COURT

From the days of Babe Ruth and his notorious bouts with booze to Steve
Bechler's ephedrine-enhanced heat stroke death one month ago, the incidence
of illegal drug use in college and professional sports has become epidemic
? and that's not counting the cocktails that horse trainers mix up to
improve their steeds' performances.

Trained and treated like thoroughbreds, today's athletes investigate every
possibility that will give them "the edge" on their competition.

A few short years ago, major league baseball suffered what could only be
termed an embarrassment of riches because of steroid-enhanced performances
by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, among others.

In the same season, both men crushed the home run record that stood for 50
years, then did it again the next season only, to have their records
destroyed by Barry Bonds last year.

It's interesting to note that none of the aforementioned players would
submit to steroid tests, because the tests were not mandated.

A culture that both glamorizes and condemns drug use also embraces a double
standard of punishment for drug users.

Two out of three inmates in prison were incarcerated because they possessed
less than three grams of dope at the time of their arrests.

Steve Howe, a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1980s, was
busted eight times by major league baseball for cocaine abuse.

Howe didn't spend a day in jail, but baseball authorities magnanimously
gave him seven chances to rehabilitate himself ? seven more chances than
Lee Otis Johnson received in 1968 when he was sentenced to 30 years in
prison for possessing one marijuana cigarette.

Of course, Howe had a great slider and Johnson was a Black Panther.

This season, Met baseball fans were entertained by a team that, according
to allegations from the New York press, was rife with players who smoked
pot regularly.

The Met players refused to respond to accusations that half of the team
smoked marijuana during the season, but the team's fielding futility (it
ranked last in the majors in fielding percentage) spoke volumes about the
players' state of mind.

Houston sports fans have only to look at former Rocket John Lucas and
former Astro Ken Caminiti to realize the problem exists here as well.

Lucas had a cocaine problem in the 1980s and Caminiti became addicted to
pain pills in the 1990s because of the many injuries he suffered during his
playing career.

Len Bias, a first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtic in 1986, died from
a cocaine overdose while celebrating his selection before he ever donned a
Celtic uniform.

Professional baseball players Darryl Strawberry and Dwight "Doc" Gooden,
the entire Italian cycling team, Chinese Olympic gymnasts; all these
athletes were banned from their sports for drug abuse or blood doping.

Ben Johnson, a Canadian sprinter, had to surrender his 1988 Olympic gold
medal because he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.

While the United States languishes without a coherent drug policy in
professional and amateur sports, all major sports federations in the world
and nearly 80 governments gave their approval and backing to the first
World Anti-Doping Code by supporting a resolution that accepts the code as
the basis for the fight against doping in any major sport.

The code is the first international mechanism to conform rules regarding
doping across all sports and all nations.

If the country wants to pursue its impotent war on drugs, the nation's
leaders should eliminate the double standards and either release the tens
of thousands of inmates in prison for minor drug infractions, or toss a few
professional athletes in jail when they get caught with drugs.