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.
Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying was knocked out of the Malaysia Open yesterday, losing her women’s singles semi-final against Chen Yufei of China 19-21, 21-13, 21-15. Despite two previous victories for second-seeded Tai against Chen this season — including her win in the final of the Thailand Open — fourth-seeded Chen dispatched the world No. 2 in 1 hour, 8 minutes at Kuala Lumpur’s Axiata Arena, securing a spot in the Super 750 tournament’s final. Tai won the opening game of the last-four matchup, scoring two consecutive points after the score was tied 19-19. However, she had a horrific points drought after the
Tai Tzu-ying yesterday was Taiwan’s final hope at the Petronas Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur, advancing to quarter-finals of the women’s singles with a decisive win over Kristin Kuuba of Estonia. The world No. 2 and second-seeded Tai crushed world No. 51 Kuuba 21-11, 21-9 in their second-round match, which lasted about 30 minutes, at the Super 750 tournament at the Axiata Arena. In the opener, Tai shot ahead 11-8 at the mid-game interval, with Kuuba starved after the break, scoring one point as the Taiwanese hit five consecutive winners to bound to 16-9. Kuuba rallied to gain two more points, but Tai
It is, to be sure, the stuff of movies: An oft-injured guy ranked outside the top 100, making his Grand Slam debut thanks to a wild card, knocks out two seeded players on his way to a fourth-round matchup at Wimbledon against none other than No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the three-time defending champion. We can guess what Hollywood might do with that script. Tim van Rijthoven, a 25-year-old Dutchman, earned the chance to see what will happen in real life across the net from Djokovic after both men won in straight sets on Friday at the All England Club. “Before the tournament
Taipei Municipal Fulin Elementary School’s baseball team yesterday beat South Korea in the regional final to win the right to represent the Asia-Pacific region in this year’s Little League Baseball World Series. The Taiwan team’s 1-0 victory over hosts South Korea was largely down to the excellent performance of starting pitcher Liao Kuan-shu, who pitched six scoreless innings, in which he only gave up two hits at Hwaseong Dream Park in South Korea. After Taiwan earned a single in the bottom of the second inning, Liao in the third hit a two-out double, helping to eke out a 1-0 victory, as they
RSS