Ignorance is bliss in the drug world

The NCAA announced on Tuesday that a survey of 21,000 college athletes showed 60 percent used nutritional supplements, many of which contain illegal or NCAA banned drugs. One NCAA official was “surprised” by the survey. The surprise is that the percentage was so low.

Fewer than two percent of the athletes said they used steroids. Right. That’s either a bold-faced lie or a nice twist of verbiage by athletes whose steroid intake comes in a supplement mix rather than directly.

Also not surprising was the finding that 20 percent of the athletes said they acquired supplements from a school official such as a trainer or coach.

This survey has attracted special attention as football players are dying in the heat this summer and are found to have ingested supplements as part of their training program. Ephedrine is a stimulant that when combined with intense heat can produce severe dehydration.

Northwestern football player Rashidi Wheeler died of asthma complications last week and there is a question if ephedrine was a factor. Wheeler reportedly used a supplement that contained ephedrine. Issues surrounding the use of stimulants and the affect they may have had on other football deaths this year are being investigated.

There is nothing new going on here. The use of drugs and supplements by college and professional athletes has continued to escalate over the past decade. Worse yet, such use extends to high schools and below.

Check on the magazine rack the next time you have a minute. Look at the muscle-building books and take a look at the ads for supplements and the ease of ordering on the Internet or through a toll-free number.

Drug and supplement usage has become part of the cost of winning. Coaches, school administrators and parents turn their heads. It’s all so complicated trying to figure out what kids are taking. Everybody’s doing it anyway.

It’s also too complicated for kids to figure out. They take whatever their buddy is taking and their buddy heard about it in one of those magazines. They have no idea what’s in the supplement and the potential affects on their body and their life.

The NCAA attempts to keep up with the latest pills on the market and has banned more than 90 substances, but it’s a backward effort. Rather than letting the drug makers and pushers lead, the NCAA should simply ban everything but normal vitamins and go from there.

The NFL announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with the players union that prohibits players from endorsing many supplements, even if they are sold over the counter. What neither the NFL or any pro league has done is to prohibit and enforce the use of such supplements by their own players. That is the hypocrisy that runs rampant in sports.

Pro athletes’ lockers are filled with supplements, legal and illegal. Those athletes generally know as little about the affects of such usage as the college and high school players.

Nobody wants to touch the American dream of money and fame. Nobody wants to possibly tarnish the golden images so carefully erected by the sports media that relies on the images to sell newspapers and television ads.

Nobody wants to ask how Sammy Sosa got the body builder’s sculptured look. Nobody wants to hear any more about Mark McGwire and the steroid supplements a writer saw in his locker one day, wrote about it, and then got skewered for reporting what he learned.

Ignorance is bliss in the world of drugs, supplements and sports. Except now players are dying and everyone has this feeling the supplements are a factor. We’ll see how long before everyone buries their heads in the magazine ads again. My guess is two weeks.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.