Yahoo Sports: 'The Clear' was legal

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Plus an added bonus was that it was mostly MLB players

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Bonds has never failed a drug test. The asterisk thing is because Bonds is an unlikeable misanthrope and people are latching on a way to bash him.

I'm not saying Bonds didn't use steroids, I think he probably did, but there is no piece of hard evidence which would justify a formal sanction from baseball itself.

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On Oct. 23, 2003, just a few weeks before Bonds testified, prosecutor Jeff Nedrow questioned Catlin before the grand jury.

Nedrow: “There is actually a list promulgated in the federal criminal code of several steroids which are outright prohibited. Is that correct?”

Catlin: “Yes.”

Nedrow: “Is THG on that list in the federal code?”

Catlin: “No.”

Two months later – after most of the 30 some athletes had testified – Novitzky addressed the grand jury. Nedrow asked him about Catlin’s response when asked whether the Clear, beyond being a substance banned by most sports, was “actually an anabolic steroid?”

Novitzky: “He said it was another matter when looking at federal criminal law and the problem that you run into there is there’s a certain amount of steroids that are listed under criminal law that say: Hey, these substances are definitely steroids. And then there’s a catchall phrase that says if it’s not one of these substances, then if you can say pharmacologically or chemically related to testosterone, which in this case THG is, and you also have to show that it enhances muscle growth in human beings.

“And that’s the problem that we’ve run into with THG and which Dr. Catlin testified to the grand jury, is that there’s never been any studies to show whether or not THG does, in fact, enhance muscle growth.”

If Novitzky’s understanding of the law is correct, the fact that no studies had been done on the substance meant that possessing or taking THG was not a crime. However, the FDA announced Oct. 28, 2003, that THG was “an unapproved new drug” and could not be “legally marketed without FDA approval.”

Major news organizations announced that the FDA had ruled THG an illegal steroid. But all the FDA had done was to rule that THG was not a dietary supplement and therefore could not be legally marketed without FDA approval.

Novitzky and Catlin had already testified that the testing on humans necessary to determine THG’s legal status had never been performed.

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Bonds has never failed a drug test.

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After all, aren't they out there for the fans entertainment anyway. Who gives a crap what happens to them after their career.

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