How the NBA and NFL approached drug prevention in 1983
Drug abuse in sports: it's a problem facing the nation now, just as it was in 1983 when "Face the Nation" devoted our whole broadcast to the topic.
While steroid use was becoming prevalent in 1983, cocaine use was also a very troubling a problem in sports. Just that year, five football players and five baseball players had admitted to cocaine charges.
We invited NFL Players Executive Director Gene Upshaw, Dr. Roy Bergman (a doctor for the U.S. Olympic team at the time), and NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien on the broadcast to talk about drug abuse.
Upshaw said he was hesitant about submitting all players to testing, in part because "the burden of proof is on the player."
"It's really admitting that everyone is guilty. We don't believe that in organized sports," he explained. "We think that - that education is the key. You have to submit to get education, and deal with the drug on that level, and confidentiality is very, very important, and it has to be something in which the athlete is willing to come forth and admit."
"Face the Nation" host Lesley Stahl also asked about the NFL players' responsibility to the young kids who look up to football players.
"We admit, if there's a problem, we're dealing with it. If we are role models, we accept that," Upshaw said. "That goes with the territory. Also goes with the territory, of policing our own areas, and we're doing that."
Fast forward to this Sunday on "Face the Nation," with all eyes on Super Bowl 50, we'll talk to the current executive director of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, as well as CBS's James Brown.
