Much of the world's supply of cocaine is produced in South America. Thousands of years ago, the ancient Incas of Peru chewed coca leaves because they made it possible for them to work in the high mountains of the land for longer periods of time. In the 1880's Bolivian soldiers were given the drug to help them gain endurance and overcome fatigue. One hundred years later as many as 90 percent of the natives of the Andes Mountains in Peru regularly chewed coca leaves. It wasn't until the early years of the 20th century that cocaine increased in popularity among athletes ("Coca"). Cocaine is a naturally occurring alkaloid, extracted from the leaves of the coca plant. It is an excellent local anesthetic and a widely abused illicit drug. Cocaine is an odorless, white powder. The many street names of cocaine include "coke," "snow," "lady," and "gold dust." Street cocaine consists

Steroids may have some therapeutic value. The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of selected steroids for treating specific types of anemia, some breast cancers, osteoporosis, endometriosis, and hereditary angioedema, a rare disease involving the swelling of some parts of the body. Steroids are used today by young people that are in a hurry to reach maturity or by someone that hates his skinny body. Most of all, steroids are used by athletes to build muscle mass. They also help muscles to recuperate more quickly from exhaustion or injury.

those with substance abuse problems are self-help groups such a Narcotics Anonymous. However, addiction is cruelly tenacious, and no form of treatment has anything but a limited rate of success. Drug abuse costs the businesses of the United States at least $85 million every year in lost productivity.

In 1981 Operation Cork created a drug-treatment program for the San Diego Padres. Since then Cork has established similar programs for a variety of companies, institutions, and organizations. They established a program called "Employee Assistance Program," or EAP. Any player with a drug problem may, without penalty or cost, refer himself to professional treatment and counseling, put in place by the team. In August 1986 the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported on 480 companies in six states that have EAPs covering more than three million employees. According to studies, a high rate of employees with drug problems returned to their jobs.

Olshevsky, Boris. "Stopping an Athlete Killer." Soviet Life July 1991:52-54.

Thus, there is a drug problem among professional athletes today. Although, it has existed for many years due to a variety of circumstances efforts are being made to eradicate its use by making people aware of the harmful effects that drugs can have. Many athletes need to learn to say "no,"

A more accurate but somewhat more time-consuming test than the gas chromatograph alone is the use of a mass spectrometer. In this instrument, some of the original urine sample is vaporized by a gas chromatograph and then ionized (converted to electrically active forms). By passing the gas through an electric current and a magnetic field, the different ions can be separated from each other by weight. Every substance has a unique " signature" in the mass spectrometer because it has a characteristic combination of molecules. By reading the electrical properties of the ions, it is possible to determine the chemical composition of a particular sample with great precision.

A fourth technique for drug testing also shows great promise. The EMIT (enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique) test may eventually prove more accurate than either the gas chromatograph or the mass spectrometer. The substance that is being tested for (THC or cocaine) is injected into an animal in order to provoke its immune system into producing antibodies. An antibody is a substance produced by animals (including humans) that attacks a specific substance invading the body. These antibodies are collected, purified, and placed into a substance that allows them to remain active outside the animal's body. This constitutes the testing substance, which is then combined with a sample of the urine from an athlete to be tested. If the urine contains a banned drug, an immediate and visible reaction occurs. Because the body responds with a unique antibody for each threatening substance, it is possible to test with great accuracy for the presence of a specific substance. EMIT is emerging, for example, as the most sensitive test for the use of marijuana.

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