April 30, 2008
Three more doctors, Kenneth Olds, Kelly Tucker and Pamela Pyle, pleaded guilty in a steroid conspiracy involving the compounding pharmacy Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) (”3 more docs admit guilt in steroids case,” April 30).
Drs. Kenneth M. Olds and Kelly W. Tucker of Greeley, Colo., agreed to plead guilty in Mobile to dispensing anabolic steroids outside the course of professional practice. Greeley is also home to another who in January pleaded guiltyto withholding information about illegal steroids prescriptions.
Dr. Pamela Pyle, a Myrtle Beach, S.C., osteopath, also admitted to the withholding offense, known as misprision of a felony.
The indictments were expected after Assistant U.S. Attorney Donna Dobbins requested a postponement in the sentencing of their APS co-conspirator Scott Corliss last week. Olds and Tucker had previously been named in court documents as co-conspirators in the APS steroid scandal. We have not previously seen a link to Dr. Pamela Pyle.
MESO-Rx expects all four doctors who have pleaded guilty in the steroid conspiracy will cooperate with federal prosecutors in their pursuit of Applied Pharmacy Services Inc. and their owners Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley.
Prosecutors allege that Applied Pharmacy Services was party to a conspiracy involving the distribution of anabolic steroids to individuals without a legitimate medical need.
“Working in concert for their mutual profit, these doctors, pharmacy owners, pharmacists and sales representatives removed the word controlled from ‘controlled substances,’” U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes said in a written statement. “They made sure that anabolic steroids were readily available to any person willing to pay for them, regardless of any legitimate medical need.”
Practices that have troubled prosecutors include the distribution of trenbolone acetate which has no accepted medical application in humans and the dispensing of steroids to patients as young as 19 years old.
Applied Pharmacy no longer offers pharmaceutical quality anabolic steroid and hormone preparations; they have stopped production of all anabolic steroids as a result of DEA pressure and the ongoing federal steroid investigation.
April 30, 2008
Cinematical interviewed Christopher Bell, director of “Bigger Stronger Faster*” at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. Cinematical picks up on anti-intellectual theme that pervades discussion of anabolic steroids, particularly in Congress. Chris Bell discusses how politicians (in this case, Republican Senator John Sweeney) make decisions on steroid policy.
In the movie, [New York congressman] John E. Sweeney says one of the most retarded things I’ve heard. He says that Donald Hooten, whose son Taylor committed suicide and they blamed steroids, was more important than statistics or any of that stuff. As a congressman, how can you be more concerned with emotions than statistics? If you were going to go to war based on emotions, that would be insane. We’re kinda in that situation right now.
It seems that emotion-based or faith-based policy has triumphed over policy based on science and logic again and again in the past several years. As has been said before, this documentary is about much more than the steroids. The anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism seen in the steroid debate is only a microcosm of tendencies that pervade our society. Scholars have written books
To see more of Chris Bell’s comments on anti-intellectualism, watch my video interview with him at the 2008 AFI Dallas International Film Festival.
April 30, 2008
The New York Times highlights the “testosterone loophole” in anti-doping tests reporting on a recent study that finally explains the phenomena that allows some athletes to get away with indiscriminate use of exogenous testosterone. This is the same study that has been discussed in the blogosphere for over a month on various doping and steroid-related websites including MESO-Rx, Steroid Report, Trust But Verify and Rant Your Head Off. But the New York Times story will provide mainstream exposure to the weakness in current doping protocols implemented by WADA using the testosterone:epitestosterone (T:E) ratio test (”Some Athletes’ Genes Help Outwit Doping Test,” April 30).
Researchers have long known that some men, Asians in particular, seemed to be able to take the drugs without getting caught, although no one had identified the cause of the phenomenon. Without gene testing, there is no way to know whether any athletes have exploited this doping loophole, but Dr. Catlin says he suspects some athletes discovered their invulnerability by accident and took advantage of it.
Men with the gene deletion still metabolize testosterone, Dr. Schulze says. But, she adds, she does not know where the hormone goes. “We have no idea,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to find out.”
The gene in question adds a chemical, glucuronide, to testosterone. That converts it from a substance that dissolves in oil into one that dissolves in water and urine.
Athletes with a specific gene deletion (UGT2B17 homozygous deletion/deletion genotype) are genetically predisposed to pass the testosterone doping test.
The results were unambiguous: the test worked for most of the men, showing that they had taken the drug. But 17 of the men tested negative. Their urine seemed fine, with no excess testosterone even though the men clearly had taken the drug.
It was, researchers say, a striking demonstration of a genetic discovery. Those 17 men can build muscles with testosterone, they respond normally to the hormone, but they are missing both copies of a gene used to convert the testosterone into a form that dissolves in urine. The result is that they may be able to take testosterone with impunity.
The New York Times also reports that the “prevalence in other groups is not known.” But this is inaccurate. As reported in MESO-Rx last month, there is a lot of data on other groups involving the UGT2B17 gene.
(Thanks to Rehan Jalali of TSRF for alerting me to the Times article.)
April 30, 2008
When Robert Sepe brutally murdered his girlfriend with a baseball bat, the media immediately speculated that anabolic steroids caused him to do it. The apparent reasoning was that the crime was so horrific that only an anabolic steroid user with roid rage would be capable of such violence. The “brutality of the crime” coupled with Sepe’s ownership of a supplement company apparently prompted the Journal News to write about a possible link between steroid abuse and murder.
New information suggests that Sepe was strongly against illegal and recreational drug use and likely even anti-steroid. He even abstained from alcohol and coffeee (”Cortlandt slay suspect told cops of ’surreal’ events,” April 29).
In discussing weighlifting, he went into great detail about how various vitamins and supplements could affect the body. He said he hated drugs and never used illegal substances such as cocaine and marijuana. He didn’t even drink coffee or alcohol, or eat meat, though he had once tried venison, he told them.
But he did admit to using prescription drugs Elavil and Zoloft to treat psychopathology and an undisclosed blood pressure medication.
During a five hour standoff, he started out by lying about his identify and eventually opened up and talked about some serious problems he said he was having. He told police he had been suffering from panic attacks, depression and insomnia in recent months, and that he was taking two psychotropic medications, Elavil and Zoloft, along with medicine to control high blood pressure; he mentioned he had one pill in his pocket. He claimed the various drugs were “contradicting each other” and that his psychologists and internists “didn’t know what each other was prescribing.”
Zoloft and roid rage? It doesn’t quite have the same sensationalistic impact as steroid roid rage; it is kind like prednisone roid rage. Yet there are various websites demonizing Zoloft suggesting it can cause normal invidividuals to turn into “homicidal maniacs“!
It seems that there is a natural tendency to ascribe a single cause for senseless events like suicide and murder. Anabolic steroids are the demon of choice in such events irrespective of the actual potential causes of such behavior. But if the media wants to blame steroids for the violent crime of Robert Sepe, the actual use of anabolic steroids by the perpetrator is a prerequisite for this unsubstantiated claim. This is unfortunate for the anti-steroid crusaders seeking to capitalize on the current trend of steroid hysteria in the media and popular culture.
April 29, 2008
Attempts to eliminate anabolic steroid from sports in an effort to preserve athletes as role models for our children is a failed strategy. The real problem lies with a society that worships athletes as role models. Manufacturing a moral issue out of steroid use in professional sports is hypocritical when other “immoral” behavior by athletes is not subject to the same media scrutiny, Congressional hearings, and multi-million dollar federal investigations.
It is certainly not Roger Clemens’ extramarital affair with country singer, Mindy McCready, that will keep him out of the Hall of Fame. It is his use of anabolic steroids and growth hormone that represent his moral unworthiness of being inducted in the Hall of Fame. Kobe Bryant’s extramarital affair (and rape accusations) were certainly an inconvenience for him, but won’t keep him out of his respective sport’s Hall of Fame. Neither will Michael Jordan’s extramarital affair. Or Magic Johnson’s affair. Or Jerry Rice’s affair. Or David Beckham’s affair. Or Maradona’s affair. Or even Renaldo’s solicitation of transvestite prostitutes.
The “culture of adultery” and “fast food sex mentality” in professional sports is an accepted, and even celebrated, part of professional sports.
Yet performance-enhancing drugs and the “culture of steroids” is seen as evil and immoral. The demonization of steroids in sports is absurd in the face of such hypocrisy.
April 29, 2008
NPC Bodybuilder Dan Puckett was found dead in his apartment on November 8, 2007 at the age of 22. There was immediate speculation that Puckett died from the use of anabolic steroids based on the fact that he was a bodybuilder and furthered by the rampant steroid hysteria in the media. This week, autopsy results reveal that Puckett’s unfortunate death was due to “natural causes” dispelling claims that he died from steroid use.
Dan Puckett was a collegiate bodybuilding champion, winning the 2006 NPC Teen & Collegiate National Championships, and a senior marketing major at the University of Alabama.
April 29, 2008
House, M.D., the medical television drama, discussed “roid rage” as a side effect of steroids last night in an episode entitled “No More Mr. Nice Guy.” The House medical team attributed the “roid rage” to the catabolic steroid prednisone. “Roid rage” is not a medical term, but a term arising from popular culture.
“Roid rage” is a typically used to described uncontrolled aggression exhibited in anabolic-androgenic steroids users. “Roid rage” has become an accepted side effect from anabolic steroids in spite of the lack of medical evidence documenting a direct effect of steroids on aggression.
Even though aggression in anabolic steroids users is rare, the producers of House decided to promote an even less plausible case of “roid rage” (arising from prednisone use). Then again, the whole point of the television show is to explore rare medical cases and consequently rare side effects. So, perhaps the reference to roid rage was consistent with the goals of the show rather than a capitulation to the current pop culture fascination with anabolic steroids and roid rage and related undocumented or overstated side effects of steroids?
April 27, 2008
In 2001, New Line optioned the rights to make a movie adaptation of Chemical Pink
Gene Hwang reports that a new team is moving forward with the Chemical Pink movie project.
Arnoldi eventually wrote the screenplay herself and music video director Jonas Akerlund will now direct. The latest is that he and producer Ted Field are now looking for someone to play Aurora Johnson, the main character – an aspiring female bodybuilder who moves to southern California to pursue her dream.
Patricia Arquette, Rosario Dawson and Jessical Biel were considered for the role of Aurora. And while the prospect of these actresses gaining 15-20 lbs of muscle would be quite appealing for fans of female muscle, the big name Hollywood actresses all rejected the role of Aurora. It is unclear whether the role was rejected due to the disturbing nature of steroid-related side effects and sexual fetishism portrayed in the screenplay or the daunting task of trying to look like a female bodybuilder in six months.
According to the Genextras blog, it now looks like the producers are searching for a real female bodybuilder to play the role of Aurora.
Arnoldi tells us they now plan to cast a “real girl” instead. They are even talking about an American Idol-style reality show in which Arnoldi, Akerlund and Field would go around the country auditioning female bodybuilders for the part – what Arnoldi calls “In Search of Aurora”. That could mean an amazing opportunity for a female bodybuilder to play the lead in a Hollywood movie. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more…
This is certain to be an interesting movie. I think Testosterone Nation best described Chemical Pink
If Dan Duchaine had been a writer of fiction, this is the book he’d have written.
April 27, 2008
Filmmaker Christopher Bell interviewed his good friend Muscletech spokesperson Christian Boeving about anabolic steroids for the critically acclaimed documentary “Bigger Stronger Faster*”. Boeving spoke honestly about his use of anabolic steroids. When CNN aired excerpts from the documentary shortly after its screening at the Sundance Film Festival, Muscletech fired released the bodybuilding and fitness model from his contract.
Muscletech apparently has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to steroids. You certainly can’t talk about steroids if you are sponsored by Muscletech. Muscletech allows you to publicly talk about quite a few things (like masturbating to Christina Lindley’s Maxim photo spread, making multiple references to Lindley’s ample breasts or alluding to Lindlay and microphone fellatio while interviewing Christina Lindley) without consequence but talking about steroids publicly crosses the line. Such a public admission of steroid use might indicate to consumers that the muscular physique of a sponsored bodybuilding athlete is not solely the result of Muscletech supplementation.
April 27, 2008
MESO-Rx learned in January 2008 that the federal government is mounting a case against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) on charges of conspiracy to illegally distribute anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The alleged conspiracy includes APS’ major shareholders Samuel Kelley and Jason Kelley; Brett Branch, an APS sales rep and owner of Infinite Health in Eaton, Colorado; and Colorado physicians Kenneth Olds, M.D., Kelly Tucker, M.D. and Scott Corliss, M.D. Scott Corliss is the only co-conspirator who has been indicted to date.
According to the Mobile Press-Register, physician Scott Corliss pleaded guilty for his role in the steroid scandal and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in its case against Applied Pharmacy Services. Corliss was scheduled to be sentenced last week, but Assistant U.S Attorney Donna Dobbins from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Mobile requested a postponement to pursue additional indictments in the APS investigation.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade agreed Thursday to postpone the sentencing hearing for a Colorado doctor who pleaded guilty to a steroids-related charge earlier this year. As part of his plea bargain, Dr. Scott A. Corliss agreed to assist the investigation…
“This multi-jurisdictional investigation is ongoing and the United States expects that charges will be filed against other co-conspirators in the near future,” the motion stated.
APS was raided in December 2006 under the direction of the Office of Albany District Attorney David Soares. However, the federal investigation and alleged conspiracy charges are separate from the New York state investigation.
April 27, 2008
The steroid source at the center of a major federal steroid investigation in Texas has, for the first time, publicly named NFL football player Matt Lehr (currently with the New Orleans Saints) as a customer. Matt Lehr has been a target of the investigation for some time. David Jacobs claims to have sold significant quantities of performance enhancing drugs to Matt Lehr, including anabolic steroids and human growth hormone (”Plano steroids dealer says he sold to former Dallas Cowboys player,” April 27).
Mr. Jacobs, 35, said, “I sold steroids and a significant amount of growth hormone to Matt Lehr.” He said Mr. Lehr’s purchases totaled tens of thousands of dollars from spring 2006 to spring 2007, significantly larger quantities than could be for personal use.
At one point, Mr. Jacobs said, Mr. Lehr agreed to have boxes of raw steroid powder from China shipped to Mr. Lehr’s house in Georgia. Mr. Jacobs said he asked his former friend to do this because too many packages headed to his Plano house were being seized by U.S. Customs.
David Jacobs has previously denied providing federal prosecutors with the names of customers who bought steroids from him stressing that evidence and associations with Lehr were established independent of his cooperation. He has repeatedly been advised by his attorney to avoid publicly naming names. Why did Jacobs name Matt Lehr this weekend?
Mr. Jacobs said he was speaking out now because he was angry about Mr. Coggins’ statements last week to The News.
“We have been told by the prosecutors that they do not intend to bring charges against Matt Lehr in connection with their ongoing steroid investigation,” Mr. Coggins said Wednesday.
“It’s an issue of right and wrong,” Mr. Jacobs said. “I’m taking responsibility for my actions. And I’m not blaming people for my mistakes. I’m not going to lay down while other people attack my character and my integrity and accuse me of extortion and lies and making up information. It’s time for Matt to be a man.”
Paul Coggins, Matt Lehr’s attorney, claims that David Jacobs is providing false information in exchange for prosecutorial leniency in sentencing; Coggins also told the New York Times that Jacobs tried to extort money from Matt Lehr.
“He threatened Matt and said you have to pay my attorney’s fees or I am going to end your career,” Coggins said in a telephone interview on Saturday. He said Lehr met Jacobs when they were bodybuilders.
“Jacobs saw Matt as a guy with a lot of money and Matt declined to pay his fees,” Coggins added.
Coggins, the former United States attorney for the Northern District of Texas, said he had represented Lehr for three months. “We are confident that the more the feds look at Jacobs, the less credible of a source of information he becomes,” Coggins said.
It will be interesting to see how Matt Lehr’s attorney responds to David Jacobs’ latest allegations along with evidence of significant financial links between Lehr and Jacobs.
April 26, 2008
The highly acclaimed steroid documentary “Bigger Stronger Faster*” is coming to New York City for a special screening at the Tribeca Film Festival and the ESPN Sports Film Festival. I had the opportunity to screen Bigger Stronger Faster at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival. I was impressed with the well-written and well-produced film which implored audience members to think critically about anabolic steroids while presenting interviews from a diverse group of individuals involved in both sides of the steroid debate.
If you catch the Tribeca screening, I strongly encourage you to take the time to meet with director Christopher Bell and co-producers Tamsin Rawady and Alex Buono.
“Bigger Stronger Faster*” opens today for the New York City premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival for the first of four screenings at the festival.
Sat, Apr 26, 9:00PM
Tishman Auditorium at The New School
Sun, Apr 27, 7:30PM
AMC Village VII Theater 5
Wed, Apr 30, 4:00PM
AMC Village VII Theater 2
Sat, May 03, 9:30PM
AMC 19th St. East Theater 3
April 25, 2008
Jason Trahan and Gary Jacobson of the Dallas Morning News continue their excellent coverage of the federal steroid investigation in North Texas with a review of the rise and fall of one of the largest steroid distribution ring in the country.
The review article profiles steroid dealer David Jacobs and his introduction to anabolic steroids, his integration into the bodybuilding scene, his networking with pro football players, his decision to import and manufacture anabolic steroids, his steroid bust, the dismantling of the Texas steroid network, and his ostracism from the bodybuilding community (”Plano resident’s steroid distribution ring was one of the largest in U.S.,” April 24).
I recommend reading the complete article for a better understanding of the chronology and scope of the Texas steroid investigation. Below are a few excerpts.
David Jacobs’ decision to manufacture and distribute anabolic steroids:
At Lewisville Lake’s Party Cove one weekend, he met his first pro bodybuilder, Art Atwood. The two became friends, and Mr. Atwood helped train the up-and-coming rookie.
Both men were taking steroids, but were unhappy with shoddy Mexican imports.
Mr. Jacobs went online and found a solution: recipes for steroids using raw Chinese powder. Mr. Jacobs soon parlayed his knowledge of Asia, gleaned during his Nokia business trips, into contacts with English-speaking middlemen to the Chinese steroid powder factories.
Sloppy packaging that led to steroid bust:
On March 19, 2007, the United Parcel Service intercepted a soggy package sent from Mr. Jacobs’ Plano home, bound for Wichita, Kan. When officials opened the box, they found a broken glass vial of what turned out to be steroids.
Authorities arrested the man in Kansas who had ordered steroids from Mr. Jacobs, court documents say. Jamie Mongeau, an amateur bodybuilder, told investigators that Mr. Jacobs was his supplier.
Ostracism from bodybuilding community:
Brian Dobson, owner of Arlington’s MetroFlex gym, which produced eight-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and where Mr. Jacobs used to train with other bodybuilding friends, said that since his bust, Mr. Jacobs has been ostracized by the bodybuilding community he once serviced.
“A lot of people hate him,” Mr. Dobson said. “To a lot of the other guys who were his buddies, once he got caught, he became the black plague.”
The full text of the article is available on the Dallas Morning News website.
April 24, 2008
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and the Tulsa Police Department are trying to find out if an Oklahoma steroid trafficking network sold anabolic steroids and/or performance enhancing drugs to high school athletes (”Steroid inquiry widens to teen athletes,” April 24).
Tulsa and state undercover officers are investigating whether suspected steroid dealers are selling performance enhancement drugs to high school students.
Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control’s office in Oklahoma City, said agents have received a significant number of calls in recent months from high school coaches concerned about rapid gains in weight and strength among their players.
Chris Goodman (owner of Hi-Octane Fitness and co-owner of Supplement Shak), Keith Koppenhaver (an amateur NPC bodybuilder and personal trainer), IFBB pro bodybuilder Guy Ducasse and Coweta police officer Zachary Livingston were recently implicated in a major Oklahoma steroid distribution network. Sources have told MESO-Rx that the Tulsa Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit has interviewed over 75 people in the Oklahoma steroid investigation.
Prosecutors have been particularly motivated to search beyond simple evidence of steroid distribution to find links between steroid dealers and high school athletes or professional athletes whenever possible. If they are lucky, they think they can finally find the steroid dealer who sold anabolic steroids and growth hormone to Roger Clemens.
April 24, 2008
Paul Coggins, the attorney for NFL football player Matt Lehr, announced that federal prosecutors would not indict his client on steroid distribution charges (”Attorney says ex-Cowboy Lehr won’t be indicted; investigators won’t confirm statement,” April 24).
“We have been told by the prosecutors that they do not intend to bring charges against Matt Lehr in connection with their ongoing steroid investigation,” said Paul Coggins in Dallas. “After reviewing the evidence gathered to date, the government reached the right conclusion.”
John Ratcliffe, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, which is conducting the investigation, would not confirm Mr. Coggins’ statement.
“We are actively investigating the distribution of illegal steroids and human growth hormone,” he said. “As a matter of policy, we neither identify nor comment upon persons of interest in ongoing investigations.”
A source close to the steroid investigation told MESO-Rx that the steroids and football investigation is far from over. Whether the ongoing investigation involves Matt Lehr remains to be seen.
A federal investigation in North Texas uncovered one of the largest anabolic steroid distribution networks in the country; evidence seized during the course of the investigation allegedly implicated Matt Lehr. According to the Dallas Morning News and New York Times, a grand jury was convened with subpoenas for at least a couple of NFL players (former and active) to testify against Lehr for alleged steroid distribution in the NFL.
