Enzi, Burr release holds on HGH bill

Legislation making it more difficult to obtain human growth hormone (HGH) is on its way to the Senate floor after GOP Sens. Mike Enzi (Wyo.) and Richard Burr (N.C.) lifted their previously secret holds.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he expects a unanimous consent vote early next week on the bill he wrote with Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa). Enzi and Burr had blocked the bill through anonymous holds last week, but came forward Thursday and met with Schumer about their objections.

{mosads}Schumer’s bill would add HGH to the U.S. Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule III substance, making it illegal to possess without a prescription. That would equate the drug with anabolic steroids, possession of which without a prescription is punishable by up to three years in prison.

Burr was concerned chronically-ill patients who rely on HGH might not know their access would be restricted by the Schumer bill. “Doctors prescribe HGH to patients to treat conditions like growth hormone deficiency and progressive weight loss caused by HIV, and Senator Burr wants to make sure that these patients aren’t harmed by this bill,”  spokesman Chris Walker said.

An Enzi aide said the senator simply wanted to run the bill by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, since HGH is often prescribed for an array of legitimate uses. 

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) has approved a discharge of the bill from his committee, freeing it to reach the Senate floor.

“A cloud has been placed over our national pastime, but if there’s a silver lining in it, it’s the opportunity we have,” Schumer said.

The bill has already been endorsed by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell. HGH has been in the headlines since December, when former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine) released a report that alleged widespread steroid use in baseball. HGH is a natural drug, but Mitchell’s report said it has been abused by ballplayers as a type of performance-enhancing steroid.

Baseball icon Roger Clemens testified earlier this month before a House committee to deny his use of the drug, but House Democrats have requested a perjury investigation into Clemens’ comments.