Writing on his blog, the big Timberwolf is distraught that the federal government is putting a lot of time and energy into stamping out performance enhancing drugs in professional sports. He says that it would be ludicrous to think that, in the current environment, any professional athlete he knows would be starting down the road of juicing.

And he says that he has talked to lots of athletes. He has his suspicions about high school football and professional cycling. But the NBA, he's convinced, is not in trouble here:

I've made a very long list of mistakes and blunders in my own life large and small. Taking HGH, steroids, or any other type of Performance Enhancing drug, is not one of them. I had one interaction directly with this issue where someone asked me if "I had every considered using 'the growth hormone.'" Was this a direct offer? It probably was given the background and the situation, thought I'll never really know for sure. This interaction took place in the summer of 2000 after my Stanford playing days were over and before I joined the Lakers. I mentioned to the individual that I had no interest, and that was it. I've never ever seen it since in all of my NBA days nor is there any concrete evidence or whispers among the players that this has been or is a major problem.

In fact, before our last collective bargaining agreement was signed, we had a huge players meeting in Las Vegas. When the drug testing issue came up, a lot of people expressed their views. And I must say that not one voice in the room had a problem with implementing very strict testing for performance enhancing drugs. It's just not an issue in the NBA with PED.

I just hate to see our taxpayer dollars going to issues like this when we have such major problems in America. New Orleans. We're at the heels of a recession. Jobs are leaving the United States for India, China, Vietnam, etc. Our own US dollar continues to depcreciate to record lows against the EURO. Inflation continues to pick up and rear it's ugly head. Kosovo, Iraq, etc.

I am grateful for any individual who goes into public service to bring about positive change. But can we all just move on without continuing to beat an issue which has already brought about tremendous change for the better and already cleaned up a problem at the professional level? Can we channel some of America's tremendous energy to solving some of the bigger problems that for some reason are not being addressed in the same aggressive way as steroids in professional sports?

UPDATE: Would federally mandated drug tests for professional athletes be Constitutional?