Los Angeles Dodgers Manny Ramirez considered asking for drug exemption?
ByMichael S. Schmidt of the New York Times says Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez contemplated filing for a terapeutic-use exemption last season around the same time he was suspended 50-games for violating baseball’s drug policy.
Ramirez was suspended in 2009 for taking human chorionic gonadotropin, a drug used to treat low levels of testosterone, but is also used by bodybuilders and athletes to jump-start their bodies production of testosterone after they stop using steroids.
Ramirez’s agent, Scott Broas, ultimately decided not to ask for the medical exemption, but two months after Ramirez returned, the idea for seeking a medical waiver was resurrected. GM Ned Colletti and other Dodgers personnel discussed if Ramirez had enough of a medical problem to obtain an exemption for a testosterone-boosting drug.
There were 115 exemptions issued last season to players. All but seven received a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder (ADD). Two players received exemptions for drugs to boost their testosterone levels.
There is a fine line for medical exemptions since some players actually need the drugs for medical purposes, while users use it as a back-door to consume a performance enhancing substance.
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