Cheaters on radar of World Anti-Doping Agency, SUU alum

When Scott Burns, the U.S.'s deputy drug czar, was asked to serve as the U.S. representative to the World Anti-Doping Agency, he had one question for those already working to eliminate performance-enhancing substances and drug use in sports.

"There were about 160 countries in attendance, and I asked the (others) who the biggest cheaters in the world were," said the former Iron County attorney. "And unanimously they said, 'You are. The United States.'"

That was 2003, and Burns said that despite the perception that professional and world-class amateur athletes cheat without fear of penalties, the situation is getting better.

"I don't know that you're ever going to dissuade someone from thinking that everyone cheats," Burns said, "but at our last meeting in Madrid, we probably got more accolades for progress made than anyone."

Burns was assigned to the WADA because the United States is one of the few countries that doesn't have a minister of sports.

"Most countries have a famous former athlete, a world-class athlete, who oversees these issues for them," Burns said in a telephone interview earlier this week.

And while the former quarterback for Southern Utah University, who is a member of the SUU Sports Hall of Fame, has plenty of experience as an athlete, he feels a little "red-faced" comparing his athletic experiences with those of his colleagues.

That doesn't stop the former prosecutor, however, from vigorously pursuing policies that may someday mean less cheating in sports and more severe penalties for those who do.

Burns, both as a prosecutor and as an administrator for the (White House) Office of National Drug Control Policy, has made it his life's work to deal with deadly issues like methamphetamine use and prescription drug abuse. He's also been heavily involved in strengthening drug courts so that those who get entangled with drugs have some hope of earning their way out of the criminal justice system.

With such weighty work, should our government even bother with cheating athletes?

"We have time for both," he said. "We're not going allow athletes to cheat while we stand by and do nothing."