Oh Sh*t.

He just looks like he's was on them to me. The one summer he was recuperating from the acl there was an article about how much mass he had put on. Some here said it sounded like steroids. Seems like some interesting evidence. IF anyone on the team was actually using that is who I would guess it was.

 

that was epehdra

 

no they said that was a dietary supstance similar to ephedra. And that's just what everyone assumed. Me included. And Peppers said he was handed the pills in a plain bottle from a guy. Could Shrtt have been the guy. It does say he was involved in nutritional substances.

 

if you're thinking coop you've got to think smart also.

 

Suspensions not dependent on steroid tests

By Darin Gantt The Herald
(Published March 15‚ 2005)

CHARLOTTE -- Just because none of the Carolina Panthers players linked to a Columbia steroid probe have tested positive for illegal drugs, it doesn't necessarily mean they're clear from punishment by the NFL.

An NFL spokesman confirmed Monday that there exists a means to suspend players under the league's steroid policy even if they never test positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Paragraph 5 of the policy clearly states that players are still subject to suspensions or termination of contracts if they are "convicted of or admit to a violation of law, ... relating to use, possession, acquisition, sale, or distribution of steroids, growth hormones, stimulants or related substances, or conspiring to do so." The policy goes on to say that includes "diversionary program(s), deferred adjudication, disposition of supervision, or similar arrangement."

Panthers officials insist the group of at least nine current and former players who have been contacted by the Drug Enforcement Agency aren't suspects in the investigation. Rather, the team said it was under the impression the players were being sought to testify against Dr. James Shortt, who is being investigated for allegedly providing false prescriptions for steroids and other drugs.

General manger Marty Hurney said Sunday no player has tested positively for steroids. Players who test positive are suspended a minimum of four games under the steroid policy.

Even without a positive test, there have been suspensions.

In 1993, the first year the steroid policy was implemented as part of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players union, one player feel victim to the rarely implemented clause.

Then-New York Giants guard Eric Moore, a former first-round pick, was suspended the first four games of the 1993 season. He had pleaded guilty to charges of violating federal law by possessing a prohibited anabolic steroid.

A league spokesman said there were other cases, but the rest involved free agents who didn't sign with another team after the punishment, meaning the suspensions were never reported.

At this point, no players have been charged with any crimes, and the context of their involvement still appears to be as witnesses against Shortt.

But the possibility of suspensions would come as a blow to the Panthers, who have sought to overcome image problems of past years.

Defensive linemen Brentson Buckner and Julius Peppers were suspended four games each in 2002 after testing positive for banned stimulants, which fall under the league's steroid policy.

http://www.buzzfans.com/sports/football/story/4682898p-4334976c.html

 

Gantt is perhaps my favorite beat writer for the Panthers, but he must be getting bored. 3 solid days of the same freaking story and hardly much difference in each article. I think I can recite the Hurney quotes by heart now...

 

2 experts say players in NFL could beat system

Efforts to beat tests and improve tests constant

CHARLES CHANDLER
Staff Writer

Two national experts in sports nutrition say it's not only conceivable but likely that NFL players could obtain banned or yet-unknown performance-enhancing substances that go undetected by the league's testing program.

"I wouldn't limit it to the NFL," said Anthony Almada, a California-based nutritional and exercise biochemist. "With any elite or world-class athlete, organization or community, the incentive and the drive to excel economically and perform near the top is tremendous.

"(Certain) athletes are always out there looking for something to give them a competitive edge, from shoes to clothes to illegal substances. And there are always people out there who can fulfill those desires."

Dr. Bill Wheeler, a sports nutritionist in Idaho who served as White House staff nutritionist, said he believes there's a clandestine world of doctors, pharmacies and laboratories trying to help athletes beat the testing.

"I don't agree with it, but anywhere you have athletes and money, that subculture is going to exist," he said.

The Carolina Panthers have acknowledged receiving a subpoena for contact information for current and former team members connected to Dr. James Shortt. Court documents obtained by the Observer confirm that Shortt's office in West Columbia, S.C., was searched in September for evidence that could indicate illegal prescription of steroids. The State newspaper in Columbia reported Sunday that agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were questioning at least nine current or former Panthers players who were patients of or linked to Shortt, an alternative medicine physician.

Panthers officials said none of their players have tested positive for steroids.

General manager Marty Hurney said the players being sought by the DEA are potential witnesses and aren't targets of the probe.

Almada and Wheeler said they were not familiar with the Shortt case and have no information about Panthers players, but aren't surprised to hear of NFL players being linked with a possible steroid distributor.

Almada, founder, president and chief scientific officer of IMAGINutrtion Inc., said he's "quite confident" that there are products available to players that aren't legal.

"I think it's just the tip of the iceberg," said Wheeler, who served in the Carter and Reagan administrations from 1976-81 and consults with professional athletes about nutrition, including members of the Green Bay Packers, Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has an aggressive, ever-evolving substance-testing program that tries to stay ahead of players and suppliers who might try to beat the system.

"That's what the doctors refer to as the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between the testers and the cheaters," Aiello said.

Aiello said the NFL is confident its testing program is sound.

"We think we have the best testing protocols in place," he said.

Researchers found in 2003 that a steroid named tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) had been developed and was being used by some elite athletes in several sports. An investigation traced THG back to the Bay Area Laboratories Cooperative (BALCO). The NFL later added THG to its list of banned substances.

Almada, co-founder of EAS, one of the leading nutritional supplement companies in the world, said he believes players could avoid detection because the NFL's list of banned substances is so long.

"It would be very labor- and cost-intensive to test for every substance every time," Almada said.

As to whether he thought some NFL players, somewhere, were taking banned substances and getting away with it, Almada said: "I would be stunned if there weren't."

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/football/nfl/carolina_panthers/11156239.htm