Bearer--
I did not say that he was, or is, "dumb". I said that back then he was young, impressionable, and unsure of himself and how he fit into things.
And I know that for a fact.
Some wisdom comes with age in most cases. Do not make the mistake of believing that today's BJ is the same as yesterday's BJ. He was unsophisticated, credulous, and trusting.
And I know that for a fact.
I'm not apologizing for him--like I said, there were plenty of us who stayed clean. At that time, who you were around influenced you greatly, and made a big difference in how you acted. Those of us who grew up there, had gainfully employed parents, were doing well in school, and had aspirations of going to college and of a life apart from track, had different influences.
Most guys from the Caribbean operated under a different set of circumstances. College? Unheard of. Applying yourself to school? Unheard of. Any idea that you could integrate into society and work yourself into a position of respectability? Unheard of. Gainfully employed parents? Not the norm. Friends/peers who had a strong sense of self outside of sports/crime/girls? Not.
Guys like BJ were "outsiders" from the moment they arrived. They fit nowhere other than into the small immigrant community that was having a hard time of things, and that, quite honestly, offered a very limited range of role models.
This was his chance to belong to something, to be someone, to be more than he was, and to make his family more than they were. In that he succeeded MIGHTILY. He was, and still is, a hero to many because of it.
His only problem was that he believed a bit too strongly that others would help him out better than they did. There is no way that anybody should have permitted him to drink anything that they didn't know was perfect. His handlers let him down.
Yes, others were and are on drugs. To vilify someone like BJ misses the mark--he was a dupe, an experiment, in which the experimenters got a bit slack. He was complicit, but for reasons of weakness.
The same is true of many athletes who dope. The answers are to go after the bad coaches, the suppliers, and to try to give young athletes enough of a self-construct that they feel they can belong meaningfully in society without having to resort to "cheating".
What you want to go after is those who approach doping from a position of strength, with an attitude of greed. The coaches, team directors, corporate sponsors, suppliers. It is difficult to underestimate the emotional immaturity of 16-26 yr old men--or women, for that matter. Especially if they come from situations that are not conducive to the development of emotional maturity.