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Owens
Condemns Drug Use in All Sports
Rep. Owens fires hard questions at major league
baseball players
BROOKLYN, NY
-- At the Congressional hearing of the Government Reform Committee today,
Congressman Owens took baseball to task.
As he said in his opening statement, "If baseball players take steroids to
get better stats then everyone else will have to take steroids just to keep up,
to compete, to get ahead. "
Throughout the hearing Owens asked each of the of the witnesses, including Mark
McGwire, Jose Canesco, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa and Frank
Thomas the following question: "Since most industries have never been able
to regulate themselves, do you think major league baseball can really regulate
the use of drugs successfully?"
"If you let one business get away without regulation, it will simply
trickle down from there with other businesses trying to get away with something
else that is more harmful." Owens said.
"The powerful influence baseball has on young people makes the abuse of
drugs even worse. The players are not only endangering themselves, but they put
the lives of so many young people at risk. Youngsters want to be like their
favorite baseball player without any knowledge of what the drugs do to their
bodies and their minds. We should be sending a powerful message to young people
and that is we will not tolerate illegal drug use in any sport." Owens
concluded.
Owens recalled a Brooklyn born NFL defensive end, Lyle Alzado, who met a tragic
end after twenty years of anabolic steroid use. He died of brain cancer brought
on by excessive steroid use. Near his end, Alzado told friends, "Look at me
now. My hair is gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for
support and I have trouble remembering things. I am sick and I am scared. What
is my last wish? That no one else ever dies this way."
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