Rockies first baseman C.J. Cron, free-agent right-handers Matt Harvey and Mike Morin, and Phillies righty Cam Bedrosian were called as witnesses in the ongoing Eric Kay trial today, as covered in detail by ESPN’s T.J. Quinn and The Athletic’s Sam Blum. Kay, formerly the Angels director of communications, is accused of providing the pills that led to the tragic death of left-hander Tyler Skaggs.
In questioning Skaggs’ former teammates, the prosecution sought to prove that Kay alone was the source of the pills that proved fatal. Kay’s defense looked to create reasonable doubt in that allegation and bring to light the possibility that Skaggs could have received the drugs from another source.
Each of Harvey, Cron, Morin and Bedrosian admitted to using oxycodone that was provided to them by Kay — Harvey, Morin and Bedrosian during their time with the Angels, and Cron both during his time with the Angels and, at least once, during his time as a member of the Rays. Harvey acknowledged that Skaggs, at one point, spoke of another source of pills — an unnamed contact in Santa Monica. Cron indicated during his testimony that Kay was, to his knowledge, Skaggs’ only source of pills. Kay provided Cron himself with pills around eight times, Cron said.
Morin acknowledged being provided with pills on five to six occasions, detailing a payment scheme wherein he would leave cash in a locker room cubby, which Kay would then replace with pills. It was Skaggs who introduced him to the possibility of procuring pills from Kay, according to Morin’s testimony. He later added that Kay was not profiting from providing the players with drugs. Bedrosian also indicated he received pills from Kay, later stating that he was “scared” upon hearing of Skaggs’ death because he’d “taken those (same drugs) a couple of times” himself.
Harvey stated within his testimony that he did not know Skaggs to have a problem. (Dodgers hurler Andrew Heaney — Skaggs’ close friend and former teammate in Anaheim — testified last week that he was also unaware Skaggs had an opioid issue). Harvey spoke this afternoon of the lengths to which active players will go to remain on the field in the face of severe injury. He candidly acknowledged, when prompted, that today’s testimony could negatively impact his own playing career moving forward. Morin, meanwhile, stated he stopped using after leaving the Angels organization, citing the mental toll of failing to meet his lofty expectations for himself as a catalyst for his usage.
The prosecution rested their case against Kay this afternoon. The trial will resume tomorrow morning, at which time the defense will present its case. The finer details of the players’ testimonies are available both at ESPN and at The Athletic, for those who wish to delve into the full breadth of the scandal. Broadly speaking, today’s testimonies both underscore the likelihood of prescription drug abuse on a greater level than many fans realize and provide additional context to the sad and untimely death of Skaggs.
oxicodone is the worst of all painkillers. ban them!
It isn’t the drug that’s the problem. It’s players feeling like they have to take something dangerous in order to keep their jobs. Baseball can pay extremely well for a few, but it is a battle to get there and stay there. Many sacrifice their health to do so, and unfortunately, some risk their lives. Ban one drug and another will just take its place.
I dunno about the last sentence. there’s a very good argument that you simply need to regulate these things more, i.e. stricter punishments for distribution and perhaps conversely funding and promoting more safe substances.
That’s a nice thought, DarkSide; however, look how many “regular” people use and/or sell opiods despite it being a felony if caught. Doesn’t seem to stop them.
then it’s an enforcement issue, that simple.
The issue is that making it an enforcement issue prevents people from being able to get help with their problem. And you can’t regulate the quality or monitor the use of something you’ve made illegal. That’s why the war on drugs is such a disaster.
@rememberthecoop they actually lowered possession of a controlled substance from a felony to a misdemeanor in CA, and with Covid they’re probably just releasing people right after they’re arrested.
It’s not hard to get help if u really want it. Take it ass to any er go in and tell them u are addicted to drugs, are high on drugs and might hurt or kill urself if u can’t get help. Automatic 3 day mental observation and they’ll tell u what u need to do.
Google the war on drugs. Stricter punishments are not the answer
Funding and promoting more safe substances? Such an easy thing to say, but how do you propose that?
Who will pay for that? And do you think the amount spent won’t just get overshadowed by the what producer of the more dangerous substances will spend to drown out the message?
We can’t even get drug harm reduction programs in place without people claiming it’s a promotion of abuse. We have pain killers in development without opioids that are non-addictive because they bypass opioid receptors, but not from big pharma. Drug lawsuits are baked into breakeven calculations for R&D because they are so insignificant compared to the profit.
It’s not a simple issue, and suggesting such simple solutions is just ridiculous.
Right, because everything you google is accurate.
I’m not advocating this, but if a player who took an illegal drug was banned from baseball, do you think there would be less or more usage?
Punishment does work, the only thing difficult is finding the right balance.
And how would you punish somebody without the threat of a lost paycheck worth millions?
When it comes to those struggling with addiction that don’t have multi-million dollar paychecks, should we send the those arrested to your state? That way you can cover the “punishment” of multiple incarcerations with your tax dollars, because I’d rather my state devote theirs to harm reduction and intervention. I’d rather not have a revolving door of addiction.
Have a reading problem? There is a balance and we never find it.
What that comment has to do with your rant I”lol never know.
No reading problem buddy, I just don’t get this magical balance you keep referencing.
If you don’t know what kind of balance can struck, then how do you know one can even be struck?
Just some platitude from someone who has probably never worked with or experienced addiction.
“Punishment does work, the only thing difficult is finding the right balance.”
You have reams and reams of evidence to the contrary. The war on drugs has been a complete and utter failure, as have zero tolerance laws, stricter jail sentences, harsher laws, etc.
The only thing that works is not punishing after the fact, but examining the mitigating factors that lead to the ‘bad’ behavior in the first place and working from there.
Who is talking about a war on drugs? I’m not. Stop with the strawman.
You know what is very cost effective, prisons. I’m not saying drug users should be thrown on jail, I’m saying criminals should be in jail.
I don’t know what that has to do with users.
Think one reason the War on Drugs is a disaster is we’ve been sending the wrong people to prison. Repeatedly sending the same drug addict to prison, for being a drug addict, accomplishes nothing. Sending people away for decades for nothing more than possession is ridiculous. Send the big pharma executives who made billions on the addicts away for decades? Might actually see less of this junk on the street.
Actually, if you want to end drug use, you have to jail the users, not the sellers. As long as some rich kid in Westchester has $1,000 to buy an ounce of coke, some kid in the South Bronx will have an ounce of coke to sell him.
You can arrest the kid, but there will a 1,000 more to replace him. However, if the user (demand) can be scared out of buying, then the seller (supply) will dry up.
It’s like this with all vices. Without demand, there is no supply.
no painkiller makers have been as evil as perdue pharma. their reps used money, vacations and even sex to drive the pills. and the doctors knowing full well that oxy don’t last 24 hours. that led to patients using heroine.
Heroin use began to explode when OxyContin began coating their tablets to make then no longer crushable.
The market was flooded for years with the pills. Once they could no longer be crushed patients could no longer experience that high of a high.
A crushed 80mg OxyContin is similar to taking eight 10 mg percocets at one time.
Heroin is way cheaper. An 80mg OxyContin could cost $80-160 on the streets for one pill. Heroin costs dollars.
You can’t be serious.
There were over 500k opioid-related deaths between 1999 and 2019 alone. This type of drug absolutely IS the main problem.
The pressure to perform has always existed. You can argue that there is more pressure today, but the various drugs/pain-killers aren’t all equal. MLB needs to do better, but suggesting that this drug isn’t the problem is as wrong as it is ridiculous.
Oxycodone was marketed illegally. Hence the giant settlement…. You know what, if you don’t know about that case you really should look it up before commenting on this specific drug.
It can be a bit confusing, but to clarify about the specific drug, oxycodone was never marketed off label or illegally. OxyContin (unique formula) was marketed off label. In this case, the drug is short acting oxycodone, manufactured by over 26 different manufacturers.
No, the drug is the problem. Look up the manufacturer? They had sales people staring at 40k and getting paid over 100k commissions a year? The sales people pushing bonuses to doctors to perscribe them like CANDY? To all ages? They effectively created the opioid epidemic almost single handedly…? Does anybody do homework anymore?
I speak from experience, my dead brothers, their first “drug dealer” was their doctor. In 3rd grade and 4th grade? So what ages 9-11? Awfully young to be perscribed highly addictive painkillers
Not every doctor was irresponsible prescribing them.
There was usually a rogue doctor here and there who was acting unethically. They would see any patient willing to pay cash (office visit not reported to insurance) in exchange for prescriptions. These scripts were taken to pharmacies where they would sometimes pay cash. These scripts would cost $500-1500 in cash. They would then be flipped on the streets and sold for $1-2 per mg.
A typical sixty count script for 80mg tab could be sold on the streets for $4800 and higher. Subtract your $1500 cost and $200 office visit fee anf you are still left a nice profit.
Doctors, pharmacies, dealers and users were all happy.
Seem to know a lot about it
Hippyripper
I speak from experience, my dead brothers, their first “drug dealer” was their doctor.
==================================
I have never a hospital without a prescription for a painkiller of some type (not sure what kinds). I understand that *some* people occasionally need a pain killer, but I was never close to needing it, but got one nonetheless.
Unfortunately “banning” something won’t prevent people from using it. Oxygen already is considered a controlled substance.
Oxygen is a controlled substance? Daaaang.
blood doping is essentially oxygen doping.
Gaffes, typos, and unwanted auto-corrections aside, there is going to be a load of stupid, ill-informed comments on this subject.
Medical grade oxygen is a controlled substance…yes
The cause is the root of the problem. And when it comes to baseball, and maybe even every professional sport, there are a limited number of handsomely paid jobs in those fields.
Many players will do almost anything to keep one of those elite jobs if they have one. Others will do the same in an effort to get one of those jobs.
The way major league players are treated like idols (i.e. special people), that in and unto itself is a drug. Once you get the high of being an MLB player, you’re hooked. You don’t want it to ever end.
Even though Father Time remains undefeated when it comes to pro athletes’ careers eventually winding down and ending, there will always be those who just can’t accept, it’s over.
Thus, if someone offers them something that even gives them another few months of that life, the temptation is too great to turn down.
That is something people seem to just gloss over here. This wasn’t someone who got these from his doctor, he was getting them illegally.
That would be fentanyl but OXY is definitely bad news
Actually, I’d say heroin & fentonyl are worse painkillers. But that’s not even the point. Doctors were allowed to peddle this garbage for many years to a largely unsuspecting population just trying to get relief, oftentimes continuing to refill prescriptions well past the point of addiction / dependency. Once you’re hooked you’ll do almost anything to get your fix since the withdrawal is so horrible. Then, all of a sudden they cut you off, forcing people to resort to illegal means of obtaining them.
Doctors are experts and should be trusted without question
For the most part the prescribers were fine. It only takes a handful to ruin it for all.
Just send everyone that takes that medicine properly down the river to suicide. Bang up idea!
Fentanyl is coming across the open southern border in mass quantities by the drug cartels and that is the opioid addiction problem but when I just hurt my back I can’t get a prescription pain killer because all opioid use is lumped together.
To many people are getting money from illegal Fentanyl,
People suffering from disease in chronic pain can’t get them either so lets not say
Ban oxicodone is to simple; you can’t say just ban them.
The real problem here is big pharma
I’m curious as to how many MLB teams have Dr’s that perscribe it overall. Not saying that’s a cause but I would like to see the numbers out of sheer curiosity. But knowing MLB owners they won’t open their books on that either
I’d like to see that too Mike. Although I would bet it’s all of them.
Roy Halladay struggled with pain medication addiction when he was pitching through pain and back problems. If a perennial cy young candidate is prescribed that to get back on the mound, then why wouldn’t teams do the same thing to less “valuable” players.
Edit: since team doctors can do almost everything (excluding most surgeries), I assume team doctors know what players have in their system, and a retained for their tight lips.
That’d made more sense if Skaggs was getting it from a team doctor and not a teams’ communications director.
Whether or not some team doctors prescribe things doesn’t seem to be relevant to this case, as Skaggs did not obtain this legally.
Probably a lot. Just look at toradal use in the NFL as an example.
Very few. It is very hard to perform at a peak level taking opioids for pain.
Adderall is another issue. That heightens focus and is a stimulant.
Teams cannot just hand out opioids. It is still a narcotic and highly regulated by the DEA. Just because
They do not get any special exemptions because they are professional teams or professional athletes.
You will never know☹️
Didn’t big pharma create a vaccine that may have saved millions of lives?
Big pharma doesn’t seem like the real problem to me. There needs to be checks and balances. Finding that sweet spot is the real problem.
Checks and balances requires an overhaul of numerous things, including the power of pharmaceutical lobbyists.
It’s easy to say let’s have checks and balances, but if you think big pharma isn’t a major roadblock in creating this checks and balances system, you are delusional.
And just because major pharmaceuticals makes good things like vaccines doesn’t absolve them of relying on “moneymaker” drugs that create societal problems.
What part of checks and balances did I say was easy?
Lobbyists are a huge problem. Politicians that care more about getting re-elected and lining their pockets are a bigger problem.
Capitalism is the best economic system on the planet, But unchecked capitalism is extremely dangerous. The right balance of overbite is very difficult to find.
Big Pharma makes most everyone’s life bette, but it’s not an altruistic industry. The mechanism that allowed this to happen is to blame.
“Politicians that care more about getting re-elected…”
Microscosmically: oftentimes, their “job” as a politician is the best one they will ever have.
Macroscosmically: ask any vet. The first priority of any government is not to protect it’s citizenry. It is to protect itself.
Man Ducky you have to be my favorite poster.
I never said you claimed it was easy. I said it’s easy to say there needs to be checks and balances. Similar to how it’s easy for me to say “we need to reduce global co2 emissions to combat global warming”. Easy to say, but the systems in place won’t operate in such a way, similar to pharmaceuticals.
Big pharma makes many peoples lives easier when it comes to healthcare related issues. But, I’d argue your statement that it makes most everyone’s lives better is false.
Medically necessary medication at overinflated prices because of demand hurts the people that need it financially, which can create a snowball effect when it comes to extended family.
Heck, you could even argue that big pharma is less concerned with bettering life vs extending life. Who cares if grandpa is a sweaty vegetable? We can keep him “alive” for a few more months…if he still has insurance.
You aren’t arguing that you think pharmaceuticals are at all an unchecked capitalistic market, are you?
Well, there’s no accounting for taste, Halo.
I spend a lot of time in the backcountry or on the river. Gets me away from all the noise, man. Just me & the dog. Though he is an excellent listener – for one so young – he typically keeps his own counsel.
Gives me a chance to think though.
& the Jesuits did try pretty hard to teach me how to think when I was a kid. Maybe some of it sunk in.
I am arguing that the system let us down. Someone mentioned lobbyists. That’s a system that lets us down.
No way should a doctor get a bonus for prescribing one medicine over another. So why don’t you blame the medical industry?
I know a capitalistic company is going to push their product, but why the f….. is a doctor pushing their product?
I”m suppose to trust my doctor. I don’t intrinsically trust a company trying to sell me something.
“Let’s start at the bottom with doctors accepting bribes then we can work our way up to the the companies paying bribes”
The medical industry starts at the top dude. And big pharma is on the board of directors.
Blame the system not the cog.
Why on Earth is Big Pharma allowed to sit on hospital boards?
Is that like Ford sitting on the automobile safety board? Every Ford would receive a 5 star safety rating.
Doctors can no longer receive bonuses from pharmaceutical companies. Drug reps are no longer able to offer vacation incentives or financial kick backs for products.
Halo, you’re absolutely delusional if you don’t think big pharma is a problem. And give me a break with that vaccine crap. They’re keeping cheap, effective medications away from us in the process.
I don’t know why you people keep creating a strawman? Screw Fauci for not pushing therapeutics. Screw the government that didn’t push therapeutics.
The system that allowed this to happen is the problem. I don’t know why that is hard to understand. Is having an enemy that does more good than harm easier for you to understand? Big Pharma, easy target.
Big Pharma does what is best for Big Parma, which is why we need the government to step in, and that includes having drugs manufactured in the USA and not imported.
What does “having drugs manufactured in the USA and not imported” do at all?
It’s not pre-industrial revolution, we can’t do everything ourselves. Should we also source all ingredients from the US? That’s the only way to know if it is trustworthy.
Oxycodone is oxycodone whether manufactured in the US, Canada,India or China.
Prescription drugs are identifiable. They all have markings on them. You run into issues when you start buying what you think is Oxycodone off the streets. These are the pills that are laced with fentanyl. It does not take a large amount of fentanyl to kill somebody. If the dealers batch isn’t mixed uniformly or he put too much in it can be very bad.
Lololololololol stop
truth
Hope this case acts as a jumping off point for other cases in other sports. We know this sort of thing happens outside of baseball as well.
One pill can kill…
Yeah, I hope MLB finds a way to help players with addiction and have some sort of anonymous help line/network or what not. Pain killers for mental stability is scary. Shouldn’t there be some intervention or scale down to maybe marijuana? Teams have known to employ psychologists and performance coaches. Maybe building towards that type of infrastructure would be a win for MLB.
Scale down from 1 drug and hook them on another.. Sure thing..
Just because some states still think it’s fine to legalize 1 drug (federal hasn’t) doesn’t mean it’s ok to hook people on something else mind altering.
Some drugs are less physically addictive than others. That should not be a controversial statement. If people are going to use, it’s best we steer them to something they’ll have the option of getting off of later.
johnsilver is an old fool who thinks marijuana is addictive. He is an ignorant ‘get off my lawn’ type.
The Sacklers killed a million Americans and made billions doing it.
Yet, they won’t go to jail and they get to keep their billions.
And (not to defend him in any way, but) it’s Eric Kay on trial.
Hard questions need to be asked about the system that allows this…
Those questions have been asked, then the lobbyists step in, and all of a sudden the answers are wrong. Welcome to America, faces change, system remains the same, money talks, the normal/low populace gets hit the hardest. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Rich get richer at the end of the day and very rarely are ever held fully accountable whether it means loss of money or jail but rarely both and most of the time neither. It is what it is and what it always will be, im afraid. I’ve just learned to live with it at this point.
Why are none of these drugs being detected in the MLB substance abuse tests?
This guy is going down. Not sure if he’ll get charged with Skagg’s death but he’ll certainly be charged for dealing controlled substances and he’ll get a harsh sentence for doing so. Makes you wonder how prevalent this is in MLB. I believe they drug test for opioids, but I don’t know how long they stay in your system. I hope this is a wake up call to any other players who are abusing these pills and they seek the help they need to get off of them. It’s not easy to do; you just can’t stop taking them without severe withdrawals.
Hasn’t he already been charged? According to ESPN, “he faces felony charges of distributing opioids and causing the opioid-related death “
Sorry, I meant convicted not charged.
When it comes to pills, one is too many and a million ain’t enough…
All the more reason to legalize Marijuana in all major sports. Rip Tyler Skaggs prayers to your family and friends.
yup, time for the league to adjust to 21st century.!
And the Olympic committee.
You can’t be suspended for popping for Weed in MLB as long as you’re on the 40 man iirc for a few years. Matter of fact I think they tweaked it for the minors as well in 2020. So weed wasn’t helping Tyler Skaggs or any other of these pill poppers. If anything it was a gateway to opioid or other drug use.
@619bird Alcohol is a far more likely “gateway drug” than weed. Alcohol is a depressant and minor painkiller to begin with. Cannabis is a stimulant. The idea that weed is a gateway drug – didn’t I see that in Reefer Madness?
Ok, alcohol being a gateway drug doesn’t mean weed isn’t, but cool strawman.
I mean both can be gateways to more abuse regardless. Just saying we have a couple people spewing about making weed legal in all sports when MLB just changed it’s stance for the minors and it’s been off the list for the 40 man players for 3-4 years now. Let’s not pretend if weed was in his life sooner he’d still be walking the earth. I think we pretty much can say he liked to go hard in the paint with his pills. Weed wasn’t saving him! Likely nothing was.
Regardless Skaggs is dead and I don’t think we see a happy ending regardless if he smoked weed or drank his liver into oblivion before he went to the pills. Guy was an addict and addict things like overdoses and death happen. Recovery can happen as well but they say you got to hit that low of lows to see the light and clearly he wasn’t there. Kay can be blamed but Skaggs isn’t innocent in all this especially when he someone testified that he was guiding another player to get Oxy and told another player had another source in Santa Monica or wherever the hell it was.
What makes you think a player can’t smoke pot? Are you going to say they can’t drink?
Cody Bellinger is an admitted pot smoker.
Espn mentioned Harvey having a coke habbit on the Angels. suprised this isnt getting more attention.
Now we understand why Harvey’s productivity took such a radical decline.
His coke habit happened before the Angels. Had Arte known about his habit, he would have never signed him.
Moreno ate 75 million dollars of the Hamilton contract because he was using. The Angels have never signed or extended a known PED user.
I would wager that only Skaggs” family is more upset about this than Moreno.
He is a nobody pitcher at this point. A Prime Harvey makes front page news. Washed up Harvey is a non story.
So we are blaming the dealer because an addict died.
we will have to take down china the biggesr fentanyl dealer.
We? The guy is charged with drug crimes, not for Skaggs’ death. So the fans may blame him but criminally he wasn’t charged with the death. Of course, a civil trial would be a way to blame him for the death.
He is charged with, among other things, distributing drugs resulting in death.
He IS CHARGED with causing Skaggs death
Blame is the wrong word. The State is Charging(right word) him with dealing pills illegally to MLB players and causing a death of one. And a few players have already testified that he(Kay) supplied the drugs. So theres that. Blame has nothing to do with it, guilty and innocent does though. Looks like he’s going down.
He may not be found guilty of supplying the actual drugs that killed Skaggs. Harvey testified that Skaggs mentioned another dealer in the Santa Monica area which casts obvious reasonable doubt. Is the guy guilty of getting the drugs? 100% but why does no blame fall on the junkie ingesting them? Let’s be real here, Skaggs was a junkie who would have found any way to get a fix. Throw Kay in prison for a drug charge but for the death I think it’s wrong. If this guy didn’t get the drugs someone else would have and we don’t know what kind of pressure was put on Kay as the middle man to get the pills either. If you’re gonna charge Kay for the death then all these other players who knew Skaggs was also getting them can be accomplices as well. Does anyone really believe not one of them knew Skaggs was hooked on opioids? I don’t because I’ve known people who were and it’s fairly clear something is wrong.
Athletes pushing themselves to the limit and beyond in search of fame and fortune doesn’t surprise me. Opiates affecting baseball doesn’t surprise me.
Sucks Skaggs died. Sucks this happened here. I’d be willing to bet it could’ve happened anywhere. Just a matter of time.
Of course, LA is flooded by “Mexican Oxy” which is really cartel fentanyl so we had a great chance of it being us.
The fentanyl laced street meds are what’s doing the most damage right now. Laced oxys and laced heroin are killing people more so than Oxy and heroin alone.
Coming to read baseball news these days sure is a real downer.
There are drugs to help you deal with that.
lmao, Cey Hey, I’ve disagreed with you on a bunch of topics, but darned if you didn’t make me legit lol with that.
So if all these guys are using drugs illegally, how is the almighty MLB substance abuse program not catching it? Like none of these guys tested positive? I find that hard to believe.
Because their testing program is a joke and they honestly only test to look good in the court of public opinion.
This type of activity around the league has to be exposed in order to get people help and prevent further tragedies. But if Harvey testified that Skaggs mentioned another potential source then that by definition is reasonable doubt. Sadly, this seems like a witchhunt most likely led by the family who is having trouble coping and wants to blame somebody. If it wasn’t Kay it would have been someone else.
The MLB or the other sports will not expose this. They do anything and everything to protect the brand at all costs.
The extreme levels the MLB went to hunt down the ARod doping files was above and beyond shady. They had no intention on letting that info reach the public or media.
Protect, protect, protect.
What’s clear is Skaggs had many people supplying him with drugs for many years, including one of his best friends. It may sound harsh, but the person most guilty is no longer with us.
No, actually the people who lied and said it wasn’t addictive and was safe knowing full well it was highly addictive and would/was killing people and still kept lying are still living just fine in their mansions right now.
100%. The “not addictive” lie and sales commission/prescribing doctor perks scheme is worthy of time spent in the other big house.
Skaggs wasn’t prescribed these drugs that killed him…
Lost a close friend to oxy, a back injury started her spiral and despite the help and concern of so many she was still able to aquire more and more 🙁 def a problem that deserves more attention
It’s a slippery slope. The initial pain and need was real early on.
What slowly happens is a tolerance builds up. 5 mg soon becomes 10mg. Four times daily becomes 6 times daily. Tolerance slowly leads to dependence. A lot of times that gray area in between is hard to recognize.
It’s a societal problem. Less glamorization of drugs and such might help. Enforcement won’t do much. It’s true that if it’s easier to access and more prevalent, it will be used more. But there may not be enough of a stigma against using to scare enough people from starting, and subsequently entering the vicious cycle that is difficult to escape.
These pharmaceutical companies are ruining our country and every news report is brought to you by Pfizer. In 50 years these people will be war criminals for what they’ve done to this country
It’s capitalism not big pharma
Capitalism doesn’t create addicts, but pill pushers certainly do.
You need to ask your university for your tuition back.
Wow, so much to think about in this news.
Sad Skaggs died. Sad these other players used too.
I’m surprised that there isn’t more being made of Harvey’s drug use. It explains so much with his career.
Didn’t most people already fully suspect this?
Yes, but whenever anyone tried to mention or discuss it, Mets fans would jump to his defense with the injury excuse, when it was clear that his mind was not on baseball…ala Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Steve Howe, etc. etc. etc.
I’ll say it now, can anyone really ignore Noah Syndergaard too?
The real problem is for profit healthcare— a non capitalist healthcare system wouldn’t have any incentive to market addictive opioids directly to doctors and patients in order to make a buck.
Blaming capitalism is lazy and ignorant
Wouldn’t have much incentive to create drugs, either.
People don’t have to take the drugs, they (patients) are part of the problem as well, it shouldn’t be the big company that is making the drug, it’s the doctors that give it out, and the people that are week and keep demanding more.
Gotta wonder how rampant this problem is across all MLB , all sports for that matter.
Bigger than you think I’d venture to say. That’s why MLB started monitoring it more in early 2020 and took weed off the list for minor league players banned substances.
Prob biggest in the NFL and NHL due to the higher rate of physical contact.
I’m sure there are isolated groups in the other sports as well.
Wonder who else partied with Matt ? He partied hard in NYC. Once a dealer gets in with a mlb player it’s like gold. Hook up the buddies on the team.
Maybe yes maybe no. But certainly investigation warranted.
Mets coke story all over again ?
You clearly don’t know anything about his time in NY he did everything alone, he had no friends. When he was spotted out partying in NYC it was never with teammates it was models and Hollywood types not other players. He loved to read about himself in the paper.
We would also have no incentive to advance medicine either whether it’s medications, vaccines or medical devices.
Companies spend a ton of money on research for that one medical breakthrough to evolve.
Take away the profit incentive then take away medical advancement.
Safe to say Harvey’s career IS over now that that information is public.
Don’t understand how these other players can knowingly take these pills when a prescription is needed and they don’t have one. They were having pills illegally, they should be charged. Yes it was sad the young man died, but he was not forced to take the pills, there is accountability on his part too. The manager should have noticed everyone having the same bottle of pills in a lot of lockers. And if you go by the way of Astros owner knowing about the cheating in the Astros clubhouse, I guess Arty The Angels owner should have known about the drug usage in the Angles clubhouse. If this is happening in one clubhouse it’s happening in others too☹️
You don’t stand up in your clubhouse and make an announcement that you want Percocets.
It’s a hush hush discussion. I bet a handful of guys took them either for injuries or recreationally. They are the furthest thing from a performance enhancer. You have to be really addicted to play while taking them just for fun.
Oh, look at this guy… your last sentence shows a complete and total lack of knowledge on the issue. Shoulda been you, not Skaggs.
Anyone who passes off the drug problems we face right now, in sports or everyday life, is almost intentionally naive. Folks in my generation chuckled when we watched “The Untouchables”, readily accepting the fact that Al Capone “owned” many Chicago politicians ; now we ignore the influence the cartels have on our national landscape. And Capone “bought” politicians for the profits off a 5 cent bottle of beer; now we have fentanyl and heroin, the illegal distribution of which is gauged to be in the TRILLIONS of dollars.
Sports figures, airline pilots, police officers, doctors are all “juiced” in one way or the other; many of your co-workers are. Ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. MOST of the violence and lawlessness we see now is drug related. You can blame guns and “mental health issues” and all those diversions, but everybody REALLY knows it’s drugs. And lots and lots of people are making lots and lots of money. Many of our social policies have a main purpose of facilitating drug trafficking.
It just simply is the way it is.
“Anyone who passes off the drug problems we face right now, in sports or everyday life, is almost intentionally naive.”
Anyone who confuses an employer with the government is also making it overly complex.
FWIW, I would legalize most of these substances. We have completely destabilized Mexico and other South American countries. And none of this appears to be working. Pot doesn’t appear (imho) to be any worse alcohol. It appears from my reading, that opium dens are less harmful and addictive than heroin. We could probably create less lethal painkillers for junkies to abuse.
And then use the $50B or so that we save on rehabilitation centers.
Is pot any worse than alcohol? I don’t know, I don’t smoke pot. I know I can go months between having a drink and one drink is fine.
Do people typically smoke pot one in a while? Do they always get high?
A pot smoker would know, I wouldn’t.
There are recreational pot users and there are addicts, just like alcohol. I’m related to one of each. The addict is also an alcoholic. I’m no expert, but I do wonder if addicts are just wired different. My father suffers from multiple addictions. He seems to be able to keep some at bay by succumbing to others.
I assume there are both. I know people that would light up once a week, just like they were having a few beers on a Friday. Without knowing a lot of people, and having your own distinct monkeyspheres, it is tough to make comparisons.
My guess is that there are kids that smoke multiple times a week, and/or drink multiple times a week. And I am betting that most calm down as they age.
Past that, I see no compelling reasons to deprive them of drugs, if the cost is $50B, creating a crime cartel, and destabilizing our southern neighbors. We’ve done this before, and it was a decisive loss.
People use drugs to change the way they feel. Athletes no different. Pro athletes have a dream amd a goal. Drugs likely used by most at some point. People lie also to protect themselves and others.