Gov. Commits an Error in Misunderstanding Steroid Issue [View All]

[realFedUp]

(good column by Skelton, who has been following Arnie of late)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap21mar21,1,5302521.column?coll=la-headlines-california

Gov. Commits an Error in Misunderstanding Steroid Issue
George Skelton
Capitol Journal

March 21, 2005

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may know more about bodybuilding than anyone. He certainly knows about steroids as a former user. But he doesn't seem to know squat about baseball. Not that a governor needs to know first base from a rosin bag. But he should know something about the impact of steroids on baseball if he's going to comment on it to make a larger point.

snip

It's a window into the mind-set of a governor who last fall vetoed a bill by Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) that would have created a list of substances forbidden for high school athletes, modeled after the NCAA ban list. Coaches also would have been required to undergo training about the dangers of steroids and other performance enhancers.

In vetoing the bill, Schwarzenegger noted that steroids already were illegal and said the measure's definition of performance-enhancing, dietary supplements was "unclear, open-ended and difficult to interpret." He encouraged the Legislature to work with him "in developing a cost-effective way" to train coaches about "the harmful effects of steroids" — but not supplements. Schwarzenegger, Speier notes, is an editor of two bodybuilding magazines crammed with ads for supplements.

snip

Schwarzenegger should sign legislation attacking dangerous drug use by high school athletes. And the governor should learn what he doesn't know before talking about it to make a point. Then when he's pitch- ing a policy — whether it's on spending, taxes, education or sports — he's more apt to throw strikes.

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