The number of Major League Baseball players allowed to use otherwise-banned drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) dropped to the lowest level since the sport started issuing annual reports in 2008.
The results were presented in a report issued on Monday by Thomas Martin, the Independent Program Administrator for the drug program of Major League Baseball and the players’ association.
There were 91 therapeutic use exemptions for ADHD drugs in the year ending with October’s World Series. That was down from the previous lows, 101 last year and 103 in 2017. Exemptions for hyperactivity disorder had ranged from 105-119 annually from 2008 to 2016, prompting some to criticize their issuance as too lenient.
Drugs prescribed to treat ADHD often contain amphetamine and methylphenidate, stimulants on baseball’s banned list.
The overwhelming therapeutic exemptions in MLB are for ADHD. There were just three in the past year for other conditions, one each for hypersomnia, hypogonadism and kidney disease.
MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem has said the sport’s experts maintain the condition is more frequent in young adult males than among the general population.
Halem and the union did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.
Total drug tests rose to 11,619, including 9,332 urine samples to detect performance-enhancing substances, stimulants and the drug dehydroepiandrosterone, and 2,287 blood samples used to detect human growth hormone. That was up slightly from 11,526 tests in the year ending with last year’s World Series.
MLB and the players’ union are negotiating to add testing for opioids, talks that began after Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died on July 1 at age 27 in his hotel room in the Dallas area.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office said Skaggs’ death was caused when he choked on his vomit with a toxic mix of alcohol and the painkillers fentanyl and oxycodone in his body.
In next year’s report, the Independent Program Administrator is to disclose how many out-of-season tests took place during the previous five years.
Eight players were suspended under the big league drug program in the past year, including seven who received 80-game bans following positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs.
Forty-six players have been suspended this year under the minor-league drug program.
Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter on Friday posted a new video denouncing China’s human rights record regarding Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. The video came two days after Kanter, who has a history of speaking out against Recep Tayyip Erdogan, president of his native Turkey, condemned the Chinese Communist Party’s treatment of Tibet in a similar video, prompting a backlash in China. “Heartless Dictator of China, XI JINPING and the Communist Party of China. I am calling you out in front of the whole world. Close down the SLAVE labor camps and free the UYGHUR people!” Kanter wrote on Twitter. “Stop the
A driver lost control during a Texas drag racing event on an airport runway on Saturday, slamming into a crowd of spectators, killing two children and injuring eight other people, authorities said. A six-year-old boy and an eight-year-old boy were killed in the crash at the Airport Race Wars Two event at the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport, police said in a news release. The organized event was attended by thousands and involved drivers speeding down a runway as they competed for cash. The driver “lost control and left the runway, crashing into parked vehicles and striking spectators who were observing the races,” Kerville police
BUILDING MOMENTUM: Forward Lai Li-chin, who is a veteran of the national team that qualified in 2008, scored her third goal of the week against Bahrain in the second half Taiwan on Sunday punched their ticket for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with a 2-0 victory over Bahrain in the final match of the qualifiers at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Manama, making a return to the continental showpiece for the first time in 14 years. The triumph in the curtain-raiser booked Taiwan’s slot in the tournament for the first time since 2008, as they prepare to join 10 other nations, as well as hosts India, in matches in Navi Mumbai and Pune from Jan. 20 to Feb. 6 next year. Sunday’s match started with Taiwan working hard to wear down Bahrain’s
Jubilant cricket fans on Sunday poured onto the streets across Pakistan to hail their team’s rout of archrivals India at the T20 World Cup in Dubai. Pakistan romped to a 10-wicket triumph, a first ever at the World Cup level over their South Asian neighbors. Fans danced and sang, shouting slogans of “Pakistan zindabad,” or “Long Live Pakistan.” Celebratory gunfire erupted from the rooftops of houses in the capital, Islamabad, as well as Peshawar and Karachi, while fireworks also lit up the sky. “Congratulations to the Pakistan Team & esp to Babar Azam who led from the front, as well as to the brilliant
RSS