The baseball scandal with McGwire & Sosa took place around 1998, 8 years after steroids became controlled substances. I suspect it was the 1988 Olympics, where the Canadian Ben Johnson beat the American Carl Lewis--only to be stripped of his medal days later--that really set things in motion in the US.
Correct. I was thinking of the Anabolic Control Act passed in 2004. The 1990 act was part of an omnibus crime bill. This first bill didn't seem to make much noise and certainly had zero effect on steroid use in sports and society which had grown exponentially. The beefed up 2004 version expanded the list and also included prohormone, including androsteindiol, made famous by the Mark Mcguire/Sammy Sousa rivalry. Although it applied to all, the primary target was steroid use in sports. It was considered cheating and a risk to health.
What made this a circus, having McGuire and Sousa face congressional hearing, was this issue was not the purview of the government. Sporting organizations make their own rules and often it can be arbitrary with little or no regard to the rights afforded by the Constitution. They can tell you what to wear, how you are suppose to behave, what you can eat and what you can take. If they wanted to make a strike out 2 strikes or 4 strikes or make the ingestion of caffeine or bananas a violation they can. If you violate these rules it up to the organization how they enforce it, not the government. You decide if you want to follow those rules or start driving a truck or working in the produce department at Safeway to make a living.
What a circus and grandstanding it was calling baseball players to testify before congress regarding the use of PEDS. But, hey, it's not their tax dollars. You can play balonie when someone else is paying for it.
