Editorial: Steroids are safe at first

Monday, Nov. 17, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.

The chairman of the agency that monitors Olympic athletes for drug use expressed our view precisely when reacting to the new rules about steroid use in Major League Baseball. "I think it's an insult to the fight against doping in sport, an insult to the intelligence of the American public and an insult to the game itself," Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, told an Associated Press reporter.

Under the new rules, baseball players found to have taken steroids will face fines and suspensions. The penalties are ridiculously light for people with multi-million dollar contracts, however, and they allow multiple offenses. There is virtually no penalty for the first offense and the second offense is a 15-day suspension and a fine of up to $10,000. These light penalties proceed all the way to a fifth offense, which would result in a year's suspension and a $100,000 fine. A fifth offense? Under the Olympic code, there is a minimum two-year ban for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second offense.

Baseball should have more respect for its place in American life, for its revered records. Penalties for steroid use among players should be more in line with the penalties for Olympic athletes.