Marion Jones is a talented and charismatic person who is on a mission with a positive message for young people and adults.

However, I believe it's important to more closely examine her Take A Break programne and recently published book On The Right Track and put them into proper perspective.

The Take A Break website says it's "a programme that Marion Jones has created to enable her to give back and coach all people to live a better life and avoid mistakes that cause too big a price".

The reality is that her programne was more likely born as a result of 800 hours of community service being ordered by the court as punishment for lying to federal agents. US District Court Judge Kenneth Karas has openly criticised her for deceiving fans about her use of banned substances, calling the denial of use by many athletes "a worldwide lie" at her sentencing hearing.

She claimed to the court that she believed it was "flaxseed oil" she was taking at the time.

"I am troubled by that statement," Karas told Jones. "That's a very difficult thing to believe, that a top-notch athlete, knowing that a razor-thin margin makes the difference, would not be keenly aware and very careful about what he or she put in her body, and the effects."

At the core of Marion's programme is the message that it's important to "do the right thing". However, she continues to publicly claim that she "unknowingly" used drugs and this is simply not the case. I've openly acknowledged that I personally educated her about the use of growth hormone and watched her inject the drug right in front of me.



In response to me being truthful about my direct knowledge of her drug use, she filed a $25 million dollar defamation lawsuit against me.

In my opinion, this abuse of the federal judicial system was nothing more than an attempt to further promote her lies. The case was dismissed and I've continued to tell the truth about her drug use.

I am hopeful that Marion's message will help some people to avoid the kinds of mistakes she has made in the past.

I've also made serious mistakes in my life, so I know how damaging bad choices can be to a person's family and friends.

If she will come completely clean about her past use of drugs, I believe it will significantly increase the value of her message.

Marion should follow her own advice and do the right thing because the world deserves to know the truth.

Victor Conte is the founder and owner of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, the California company behind the biggest drugs scandal in sports history. This article was first published in the New York Daily News