Birds flying fly.

• Position: DRUGS - Sports doping in pigeon racing - Brief article

The latest sports doping scandal doesn't involve cyclists, third basemen, or Olympic sprinters. In October, the world of pigeon racing was rocked when six birds in Belgium tested positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs (five for a human painkiller; one for cocaine). Pigeon racing--releasing birds hundreds of miles from their coops and electronically tracking how fast they make it home--has become a big sport around the world in recent years, with $15 million in gambling money at stake each year in the U.S. alone. (The sport is legal in most of the U.S., but the...