Major League Baseball has suspended former MVP Miguel Tejada for 105 games, the third-longest non-lifetime suspension in history, because of a positive test for Adderall, a drug used to treat attention-deficit disorder.
The suspension is being praised by many in baseball as proof that testing is working. But I am concerned that there may be more to the story. If the claims that Tejada is making are true — that he suffers from ADD — then we are not talking about another example of Major League Baseball getting its house back in order after years of ignoring a performance-enhancing-drug scandal. If Tejada does suffer from Adderall, then MLB has crossed an ethical line in suspending him.
Here is what Tejada had to say:
“I’ve been using it [Adderall] for the past five years and had medical permission from MLB. But my last permit expired on April 15 and they didn’t gave me another. I knew that I was in risk of breaking the rules, but at the same time, I could not stop using the medicine because I suffer from ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]. It’s not a vice, it is a disease.”
Tejada has a dicey history with amphetamines and PEDs, but that does not rule out that his claims here are accurate. But the length and timing of the suspension — especially given what Tejada is saying — warranted more than this from MLB:
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Kansas City Royals infielder Miguel Tejada has received a 105-game suspension without pay after testing positive for an Amphetamine in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. The suspension of Tejada is effective immediately.
The league spent too many years tacitly condoning the home run culture that ultimately created the conditions within which steroid use grew among players. Now, as it attempts to remove the taint of PEDs from the game, it may just be going too far in the other direction.
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Hank Kalet 