[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Dad 818

Scott Boras, Ramirez's agent, told ESPN's Peter Gammons that his client did not test positive for steroids, but for a drug that was prescribed by a doctor for a medical condition.

It gets better--the drug prescribed by a "doctor" for his "medical condition"--is a fertility drug.

The Los Angeles Dodgers star said he did not take steroids and was given medication by a doctor that contained a banned substance.

A person familiar with the details of the suspension said Ramirez used HCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, which is prescribed to stimulate female fertility and testosterone production in men and to treat delayed puberty in boys. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the banned substance wasn't announced

"Recently, I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me," Ramirez said in a statement issued by the players' union.

"Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

Baseball added HCG to its list of banned substances last year.

"It's not infrequently part of the mix of the poly-drug approach to doping," said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency. "It typically is used most when people are coming off a cycle to restore to normal biophysiological feedback mechanisms."




Apparently, juicers commonly take it at the end of a steroid cycle because it re-stimulates the body's natural production of testosterone