GONE TO POT

Baseball Should Revisit Its Drug Detection Policy, The Least Stringent In
Professional Sports

If you read yesterday's cover story in Newsday and you remember the team's
old theme song, the parody may be irresistible:

"The Mets are really SMOKING the ball, TOKING those home runs over the
wall. ... "

But drug abuse is not a laughing matter, especially among public figures
with influence over kids. And that's why Major League Baseball and the Mets
management must take reports of suspected marijuana use seriously.

"At least seven Mets have been suspected of using marijuana this season,
part of an alleged pattern of drug use that reaches from the team's minor
league system right up to the major league roster," wrote Newsday's David
Lennon and Jon Heyman.

The story cites allegations that pot was delivered in a peanut butter jar
and that some players preferred to "share a marijuana-filled limousine ride
rather than taking the team bus."

To be fair, most of the players cited - named and unnamed - appear to be
marginal ones. So it would be hard to blame marijuana use for the team's
unexpectedly poor performance this season. And while the story quotes field
manager Bobby Valentine as saying that he had his concerns as early as
spring, it also includes Mets General Manager Steve Phillips' contention
that drug use is not rampant on the "major league team."

Phillips may be signaling that the problem, in fact, is in the minor
leagues (where two of the alleged users named, pitchers Grant Roberts and
Mark Corey, toiled until recently). This may indicate a lack of
organizational discipline that may very well be a reason why the Mets too
often have not lived up to expectations. And the Mets should jump all over it.

But the Mets aren't the only team dogged by reports of drug use. And
baseball isn't the only sport. Among major professional leagues, however,
baseball appears to have the least stringent policy for detection and
punishment.

That's why the league and players union should revisit the issue of drug
testing, beyond the plan for reviewing steroid use that was recently
negotiated. This would be for the good of the players, as well as their
young fans.