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SPORTS Friday 13 december 2019
MLB, union agree to testing for opioids after Skaggs’ death

By RONALD BLUM players,” Angels general session of marijuana, hash-
AP Baseball Writer manager Billy Eppler said. ish or synthetic THC had
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Major “It shows a lot of human been subject to fines of
League Baseball will start touch on the powers that up to $35,000 per viola-
testing for opioids and be and I’m thankful for it.” tion. Going forward, mari-
cocaine, but only play- Under the changes, MLB juana-related conduct will
ers who do not cooperate will test for opioids, Fen- be treated the same as
with their treatment plans tanyl, cocaine, and syn- alcohol-related issues, and
will be subject to discipline. thetic Tetrahydrocannabi- players generally referred
Marijuana will be removed nol (THC). Players who test to mandatory evaluation
from the list of drugs of positive will be referred and voluntary treatment.
abuse and will be treated to the treatment board Players and team staff will
the same as alcohol as part established under the have to attend mandatory
of changes announced agreement.“It is our collec- educational programs in
Thursday to the joint drug tive hope that this agree- 2020 and 2021 on the dan-
agreement between MLB ment will help raise public gers of opioid pain medi- In this June 29, 2019, file photo, Los Angeles Angels starting
and the players’ associa- awareness on the risks and cations and practical ap- pitcher Tyler Skaggs throws to the Oakland Athletics during a
tion. In addition, suspen- dangers of opioid medi- proaches to marijuana. baseball game in Anaheim, Calif.
sions for marijuana use will cations,” deputy baseball Moves by some states to Associated Press
be dropped from the mi- commissioner Dan Halem legalize marijuana use fac-
nor league drug program. said. tored into the change. Players subject to the minor or subsequent positive
Opioids are classified as a Until now, big league play- “It was a part of a larger league testing program, marijuana test. Halem said
drug of abuse under the ers referred to the treat- conversation that was re- who are not on 40-man the big league and minor
joint big league program, ment board who failed flective of the attitudes rosters and not covered by league programs will treat
which began in late 2002 to comply with their treat- changing in many parts of the union, were suspend- marijuana use the same
and until now has limited ment plan for use or pos- the country,” Clark said. ed until now for a second way going forward.q
testing to performance-en-
hancing substances and
banned stimulants.
Talks to add testing for opi-
oids began following the
death of Los Angeles An-
gels pitcher Tyler Skaggs,
who was found dead in
his hotel room in the Dallas
area July 1 before the start
of a series against the Tex-
as. A medical examiner’s
office said the 27-year-old
died after choking on his
vomit with a toxic mix of
alcohol and the painkillers
fentanyl and oxycodone
in his body.“Players from
our side of the equation
recognize that there was
an opportunity to take a
leadership role here in this
discussion,” union head
Tony Clark said. “Players
aren’t immune to issues
that affect all of us, and so
the situation this year only
heightened that, brought it
even closer to home.”
Clark said the extent of
opioids use among players
is “difficult to gauge” and
the union concluded there
“wasn’t necessarily a need
to take a census as much
as there was taking a lead-
ership role in the conversa-
tion.”
“I’m just thankful that the
players union and MLB
were able to address a se-
rious issue in our nation that
doesn’t have any bound-
aries and crosses lines into
sport and work together
for the betterment of our