Is MLB's new policy on amphetamine use working?

	Earlier this year, D'backs reliever Jason Grimsley revealed to federal investigators that amphetamines were readily available in clubhouses. AP
	MAILBAG Comments, questions or obviously unfounded criticism? To e-mail Donovan, use the form below. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Year 1 of Major League Baseball's ban on amphetamines has, according to players and league executives, cut down on the once-rampant use of such drugs. Or so it seems. 

Players say that the little pick-me-ups that so pervaded clubhouses around the sport for the past several decades -- pills know universally as "greenies" or "beans" -- have, evidently, gone the way of the complete game. League officials say that baseball's new drug-testing policy has been "very effective" in shutting down all the pill-popping.

The only question for the rest of us, disillusioned by years of steroid abuse is: How in the heck do we know?

Lack of transparency

All the claims of success are impossible to confirm because Major League Baseball, citing its agreement with the players' union, refuses to say if its drug testing has turned up so much as a single positive test for amphetamines this year.

This is different than steroid testing. Under its newly reworked drug policy, baseball now routinely releases the names of steroid users, including first-timers. This year, for example, 35 players have been suspended for steroids, including two major leaguers (pitcher Yusaku Iriki of the Mets and Jason Grimsley of the Diamondbacks).

But because the drug policy is a negotiated agreement between the league and the players' union, and because many in the union (and outside of it) believe that amphetamine users should not be treated like steroid users -- partly because of the addictive quality of amphetamines -- the penalties for those who use amphetamines are different.

Players caught using steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs are not only publicly identified, they're also automatically suspended for 50 games for a first offense. Those caught using amphetamines -- not included under the "performance-enhancing" section of the agreement -- are not publicly revealed, at least not first-time offenders. They're quietly sent to treatment and are subjected to further testing. A second positive test would result in a 25-game suspension. Only then would the player be identified publicly.

"I think our agreement reflects the fact that amphetamines are sort of a hybrid between drugs of abuse, like cocaine, and performance-enhancing drugs, like steroids," said MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred. "We recognize the significance of discipline and punishment. The question is, do you make any accommodation for the addictive quality [of amphetamines]?"

Baseball and the players' union clearly have drawn a line between the two types of drug use. Still, despite the lack of public disclosure on amphetamine use, many around the game insist that the days of players popping greenies like sunflower seeds are, if not completely over, at least on the decline.

"You used to walk by every locker and be able to see vials of stuff," says Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, one of the more strident critics of amphetamine use. "That's not the case anymore. I think the testing policy has achieved what it set out to and is cleaning up the sport."

Manfred says the sport's new drug program has been "very effective insofar as changing the culture of amphetamine use" -- though, again, he declines to back up his assertion with hard numbers.

Stone cold killers

Estimates vary, but anecdotal evidence suggests that as many as 75-80 percent of major league players have used amphetamines at some point in their careers. Former National League MVP Ken Caminiti told Sports Illustrated in 2002 that it was much more than that. "I would say there are only a couple of guys on a team that don't take greenies before a game," Caminiti said. "One or two guys."

These are dangerous drugs, too. Amphetamines increase alertness and energy, but they also can be addictive and can lead to an elevated heart rate, elevated blood pressure, nausea, irritability, insomnia and other nasty side effects. Other drugs on baseball's list of 30 banned stimulants have proven to be dangerous, too. Ephedrine, for example, was linked to the 2003 heat-related death of Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler.