Prosecuting Roger Clemens for Lying to Congress
A federal grand jury has indicted Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Far be it from me to defend Roger Clemens; he did, after all, abandon the Red Sox and later play for the Yankees!
And if Clemens lied to Congress, he’s an idioti and has a terrible lawyer. Richard, Nixon, Martha Stewart, Bill Clinton, and Rod Blagojevich can all attest that it’s not the crime that gets you; it’s the coverup.
All that aside, the prosecution of Clemens and other athletes for using performance-enhancing drugs is a waste of government resources.
Professional athletes do incredibly damaging things to their bodies every time they play or practice. If they want to use performance-enhancing substances, that should be between them and their employers.
Categories: My Blog
PP
True. Then if there is demand for drug-free sports, let sports segregate to “open” and “no artificial hormones and antibiotics” leagues. Then in an effort to defend its reputation the “no artificial hormones” league can take measures to ensure that its athletes do not take performance enhancing substances and fire/eject from the league those who do.
Antoine
Not true:
For a professional player willing to improve his performance, and increase its visibility on the media market, there are thousands of children following their behavior. In Europe, it has terrible effects on 15 year old cycling amateur races for instance… And these children, they take the substances, damage their body irreversably, but never get the checks from any employer…
This is a simple externality, isn’t it?
Tony61
True, with a big but(t)…
The libertarian view would state that employers should enforce their own restrictions on drug use. BUT, Clemons is not indicted for drug use, he lied to Congress and civil society needs to enforce that law.