, in NJJN
“We have created a new class of Americans our country called “Athletes.” For example, the focus on drug and steroid testing in sports is absurd when you consider that professional athletes are tested more than Supreme Court Justices, Members of Congress, the President of the United States, and other elected officials. Additionally, despite the disproportionately high incidents of substance abuse among health care practitioners and the undeniable potential risks to their patients, there are no uniform workplace testing programs for health care practitioners that are similar to the testing programs in sports. What is it about possessing the elite athletic prowess that justifies treating a man or woman differently from others whose impact on our lives are potentially much more profound?” — Wm. David Cornwell, Sr., Sports attorney and President of the sports law firm, DNK Cornwell - Enough Of Tiger: It’s Time for the Media to Answer Some Questions
“I can see where guys like Hank Aaron and some of the old-timers have a beef with it. But as far as looking at Manny Ramirez like he’s (serial killer) Ted Bundy, you’re out of your mind. At the end of the day, you think anybody really (cares) whether Manny Ramirez’s kidneys fail and he dies at 50? You were happy if the Red Sox won 95 games. You’d go home, have a cookout with your family. No big deal.” — Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo interview with Bob Nightengale of USA Today (“Reds’ Arroyo is gambling on supplements, despite risk,” August 13, 2009)
“I think we’re going to have to either give up baseball or give up the hypocrisy and the phoniness and pretending that steroids are an evil thing…. They are the march of science and modern life. It’s crazy to imagine that athletes, of all people, are going to refrain from using whatever science makes possible for them to enhance their performance.”
— Zev Chafets, author of Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame
“The nationwide war on steroids by two San Francisco BALCO prosecutors and one former IRS agent has always been about personal advancement. These federal officials realized that by targeting a few baseball players and track stars for taking steroids they could make names for themselves. The irony is that thousands of American police officers are major steroid users. Yes, there has been too much ado about steroids. I’ve been writing for years about the subject for Yahoo Sports and Playboy because readers are intrigued. But the deeper story is that steroids are prevalent throughout society. Prosecutors using athletes as scapegoats are simply playing the celebrity gristmill.” — Jonathan Littman commenting on Freakonomics blog article
“Steroids are treated like any other illegal drug that threatens the American public - like all illegal narcotics, their sale and possession represent critical links in a larger criminal process, one that funds terrorism, death, and addiction around the world. Smuggle steroids, and expect to be stopped, arrested, fined, and maybe even jailed.” — United States Customs and Border Patrol website, “US Customs Today” (July 2002)
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I think it’s important to get the message out that we should not use drugs. I think we have a certain obligation as athletes to inspire young people. When someone wins an Olympic championship or a boxing championship, whatever it may be, you’re not only a champion, but you’re also an inspirational vehicle for young kids and for people in general to stay fit, to lose weight and all of this.
I think that the message of not using drugs, not using alcohol, all of those things, always out there and inspire young kids. So I think there are some athletes go in that direction because there’s so much competition. I think they need to come out, be clean, and say look, I used that, I made a mistake, or whatever it is and the sports ought to be without drugs. That’s the important thing.
” — Arnold Schwarzenegger about steroids on CNN’s State of the Union with John King (”Schwarzenegger: Steroid Use Sends Bad Message” (February 22, 2009)“I don’t worry about it, because I never took an overdosage. I took them under a doctor’s supervision once a year, six or eight weeks before competition. I was always careful and checked, and I never had any side effects.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses his own steroid use in Playboy interview with Joan Goodman (January 1988)
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I did, yes. But I mean, there was in a time in the late ’60s… It was stupid, because it was in the late ’60s, early ’70s when we didn’t know any better.
Anything when you want to be a champion, you use anything that comes around. If it is food supplements, if it is a tanning booth that is a new idea to get brown, or - the steroids came around at that time, so we tried that.
But then in the late ’70s and in the early ’80s, research was done and you found out that it’s actually damaging, that it causes side effects and it is bad for your health.
And now, of course, I’m traveling around the country telling all the high school kids, don’t take steroids. Don’t take any drugs, because I’m totally anti-drugs, because drugs are only for a temporary kind of a situation.
You get a temporary - you get strength maybe a little bit more, energy a little bit more, a high, or whatever is - but only temporary, not permanent.
What we have to work towards is permanent strength, permanent endurance, a permanent high. And that is - the only way you can do that, if you train hard, the harder you train the better you get. The more you work on your mind - the discipline, the dedication and those things - the better you will get and the longer it will last.
So, no drugs. No drugs.
” — Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses his steroid use on CNN’s Larry King Live (August 10, 2003)“Arnold now publicly and repeatedly condemns the use of steroids. If he knew then what we know now, he wouldn’t have done it.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger about his past steroid use via gubernatorial campaign spokesman Rob Stutzman (2003)
“Certainly, as someone who is in a position to influence young people, I want to make my position very clear. I am absolutely against the use of these dangerous and illegal substances.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger writing about steroids in “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding” (1998)
“I used steroids. It was a risky thing to do, but I have no regrets. It was what I had to do to compete. The danger with steroids is overusage. I only did it before a difficult competition for two months, but not for a period of time that could harm me. And then afterward, it was over. I would stop. I have no health problems, no kidney damage or anything like that from using them.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger has no regrets about steroid use in Los Angeles Times (1996)
“There is no one who has ever gone the long haul relying on drugs. That extra 20 pounds that you may lift from using those steroids is not going to be worth it. But you will know when you get sick and when the side effects come out. I think it is very important that someone like myself who has been there gets that message out.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses steroids in interview with Saturday Evening Post (1993)
“In those days you didn’t have to deal with the black market. You could go to your physician and just say, ‘Listen, I want to gain some weight, and I want to take something.’ Then the physician would say, ‘Do it six weeks before competition, then it will be safe.’ And that’s what you would do. The dosage that was taken then versus taken now is not even 10 percent. It’s probably 5 percent.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses doctor-prescribed steroid use to US News & World Reports (1992)
“It was new then. There were no laws against it. I experimented with it. I’m instinctive. I felt right away it was not a real thing. I felt something in my system didn’t belong there. I quit.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger characterizes his steroids use to USA Today after President George Bush appointed him to President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (1990)
“I will not speak for my colleagues, but I will write of my experience with tissue-building drugs. Yes, I have used them, but no, they didn’t make me what I am. Anabolic steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up.” — Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote about his steroid use in mail-order booklet entitled “Arnold: Developing a Mr. Universe Physique” that he sold in “Muscle & Fitness” (1977)