Stimulant exemptions in MLB virtually unchanged
By RONALD BLUM, Associated Press
Dec 1, 2010 5:43 PM CST

Major League Baseball granted 105 exemptions for otherwise-banned stimulants in the last year because of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, virtually unchanged from the previous year's total.

MLB and the players' union released the report Wednesday, covering a period that ended with the World Series.

The ADHD figure has stayed about the same for four years. There were 108 therapeutic use exemptions in 2009, up from 106 TUEs in 2008 and 103 in 2007. Baseball management says the level of ADHD among young males is higher than for the general population.

"My reaction is the same as last year and the year before that," said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency. "It seems to me almost incomprehensible that ADHD is so pervasive in baseball to a degree that it requires medicine."

A frequent critic of baseball's drug-testing program, Wadler said "these numbers really cry out for transparency in the TUE process in baseball _ a good look-see at the process, not just the numbers."

Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, didn't return a call seeking comment.

There were just two positive tests for steroids in the second full year of the sport's toughened drug program, according to Dr. Bryan Smith, MLB's independent drug-testing administrator. Cincinnati pitcher Edinson Volquez and Florida catcher Ronny Paulino were suspended for 50 games each.

Without saying who tested positive for what, Smith identified the substances as Clomiphene and Oxandrolone.

Among 3,747 tests for major leaguers, up slightly from last year's 3,722, there were 15 positives for stimulants, including 13 for Adderall and one each for Clobenzorex and Phentermine. They were presumably initial positive tests, which don't result in discipline.

ADHD dominated the therapeutic use exemptions that were granted, with only five others approved. Of those, two were for hypertension and one each for hypogonadism, narcolepsy and post-concussion syndrome.

Smith issued the report under toughened rules baseball adopted last year at the recommendation of former Senate majority leader George Mitchell.