The relationship between steroids and sports is often a matter of never-ending debates but they do not matter to some players from the Dominican Republic who thinks that steroids are worth the risk and they do use them even after knowing about the risk factors.

Bernardino Jimenez was a child in San Pedro de Macoris striving to make it big in the world of professional baseball. He was wrongly lured by an agent who injected a mixture of Boldenone in place of legal vitamins, leading to a suspension of 50 games.

From TimesUnion.com:

Jimenez’s case is just one example of a disturbing trend in this hotbed of baseball talent.

Of the 69 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances in 2008, nearly two thirds — 42 — came from the Dominican Summer League, a developmental program for Latin American players housed in secluded palm tree-lined campuses owned by big-league teams. This year, 31 of the 71 minor leaguers suspended for using banned substances came from the DSL.

In the major leagues, where performance-enhancing substances have been a divisive issue for more than a decade, players with Dominican roots have also been at the center of several high-profile drug cases.

Sammy Sosa and Manny Ramirez have been accused in stories by The New York Times of being on a list of more than 100 players alleged to have tested positive during an initial drug survey of MLB players six years ago. David Ortiz has acknowledged the union told him he was on the list, and slugger Alex Rodriguez, following a February report in Sports Illustrated, said he used steroids while with Seattle from 2001-03. Rodriguez said a cousin obtained a substance he knew as “boli” in the Dominican Republic.

The incident once again reaffirmed the fact that side effects of steroids, amphetamines, or performance enhancing drug do not act as deterrents for sportsmen wanting to make it big in the world of sports.