How far is "too far"?

On August 10th, Yahoo Sports announced this story about an American pitcher (in Japan) accused of supposedly doping. They said that this was "the first player in Japanese baseball history to flunk a drug test." What bothers me about this story is the drug they found, the conclusions they immediately drew upon finding it, and the punishment given.

The drug in question is Finasteride, which is a drug whose secondary benefit is to combat male pattern baldness. (The primary purpose of Finasteride is to treat the symptoms associated with BPH). The immediate conclusion drawn was that the pitcher, Rick Guttormson, may have been using Finasteride as a masking agent to cover up (suspected) performance enhancement drugs already in his system. The punishment for this finding: $63,000. (The writer should have used Yen as the currency--it would have sounded a whole lot worse: 7,427,724).

While it may be true that some athletes have been found using other drugs to mask the more problematic ones; it is not always the case that athletes who use so-called masking drugs are using them for that purpose. It may be the case that these so-called masking drugs are being used for their intended purpose. In the situation of Guttormson, it's not like the man has flowing locks of hair or an enormous afro. I've seen pictures of Guttormson and (with all due respect) using Finasteride may be something he feels he needs to do. I think the burden of proof should be on the officials to prove that Guttormson is in fact using Finasteride as a masking agent before making such harsh accusations.

But this raises two issues that would be certainly telling for such an investigation:

1. Whether or not Guttormson would consent to further testing. If he is entirely innocent and Finasteride is being used for the sole purpose of battling hair loss, then he should have no problem in allowing the officials to test him. If he resists, then I believe the officials have a right to be suspect of his using Finasteride. (Generally speaking, people who are non-compliant in such instances are ones who have something to hide).
   
2. The article says that Guttormson has been taking the hair treatment drug for 2 years and the drug has been banned from the Japanese baseball league. The question for me would be: was Guttormson made aware that Finasteride had been banned? If he was taking the drug--for the purpose of hair growth--and he was doing so not knowing that it was a banned drug, then the Japanese baseball officials should take that into consideration. If, however, he was taking the drug--for the purpose of hair growth--and he was doing so knowing that was a banned drug, then they should reprimand him for that reason.