Is 50 Cent Selling Steroids to College Athletes?

On January 15, 2009, the NCAA Convention told its members about the "impermissible" substances in certain flavors of Vitamin Water.

The picture is a scaled-down version of the actual poster the NCAA and Drug Free Sport (the NCAA's testing company) sent out to every lockerroom of its members to forewarn of the 'dangers' of drinking certain flavors of Vitamin Water (50's is safe, folks...). Drug Free Sport included a letter, in which a portion read as follows:

We wanted to bring this your attention. At this time, Vitamin Water has six products that contain impermissible or banned substances for NCAA athletes. If the athletes consume some of these flavors, they could result in a positive drug test and the consequences that follow, including lost eligibility. The products that are in questions, are as follows: power-c, energy, b-relaxed, rescue, vital-t and balance, see that attached chart for more information. We would suggest that you post this signage so your student athletes are made aware of the banned products.

One has to think the levels of any banned substances within Vitamin Water would be so minute that it really wouldn't matter much. Here's the kicker: all a student-athlete has to do is test above a certain level for a substance (like caffeine), and they can be banned for a year. That means no Red Bull for Blake Griffin or Tyler Hansbrough.

The students at Brown did some investigation within school grounds and were told by the athletic director and its compliance officers:The flavors known as Power-C, Energy, B-relaxed, Rescue, Vital-T and Balance were all mentioned in Associate Athletic Director Robert Kenneally's e-mail to students, though only Energy and Rescue contain compounds that are banned - caffeine in both cases, and guarana seed extract for Energy. Caffeine is banned only above a level of 15 micrograms per milliliter, according to the NCAA, a mark that can be avoided with most moderate diets.

Five flavors contain some amount of impermissible substances, and so cannot be provided to students. Power-C, B-relaxed and Rescue contain the psychoactive compounds taurine - found in Red Bull - L-theanine and ECGC, the active ingredient in green tea extract.

A Vitamin Water representative announced earlier today the company would cease offering the banned flavors to athletes, but this has to make Glaceau's parent company, Coca-Cola, a little angry, as they are a major sponsor of the NCAA Basketball Tournaments. The company's sponsorships and participation will not be in jeopardy because of this.