August 30, 2008
A Connecticut man was convicted and sentenced for second-degree assault and first-degree unlawful restraint. Carlos Ramos threatened the life of his girlfriend, punched and kicked her on the ground and then forced himself upon her; he did not face rape charges because she allegedly consented. He invoked the “dumbbell defense” blaming his behavior on his use of anabolic steroids (”Victim asks judge to go easy on abuser,” August 30).
“I was not like that before I did steroids,” Carlos Ramos said. “I know I hit her, but I don’t remember doing it.”
Judge Michael Sheldon, of the Litchfield Superior Court, agreed that anabolic steroids caused Ramos to beat his girlfriend.
August 28, 2008
Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals President and CEO Jared R. Wheat, Vice President Stephen D. Smith, co-founder Tomasz Holda and Sales Associate Sergio Oliveira pleaded guilty last week to one count of conspiracy i.e “conspiring to violate federal prohibitions against mail and wire fraud and the importation and distribution of adulterated, unapproved, and mislabeled drugs.” The defendants admitted to the operation of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility doing business as Planet Pharmacy in Belize where they produced generic versions of various prescription drugs which were sold without a prescription on the Internet (”Four “Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals” Case Defendants Plead Guilty to Importing and Distributing “Knock-Off” Prescription Drugs,” August 18).
United States Attorney David E. Nahmias said of the pleas, “These defendants set up an offshore manufacturing facility where, in unsanitary conditions, they reproduced leading pharmaceutical products for importation into the United States, all without FDA approval or licensing from the rightful patent holders. Their motive in flouting the law, violating patents and exposing their customers to unknown health risks was greed, pure and simple. I commend the FDA and the DEA for their thorough investigation in this case. The Department of Justice and these agencies will continue to work hard to protect American consumers from such fraudsters.”
The U.S. Attorney did not mention that Planet Pharmacy, operating in Belize, could legally produce generic versions of drugs such as Xanax, Valium, Ambien, Vioxx, Lipitor, Zoloft, Viagra, Cialis, Anavar, Anadrol, Dianabol, Winstrol, Arimidex, Clomid, Nolvadex, etc. because of the existence of a loophole in Belize law. Planet Pharmacy believed they were legally operating as long as they did not directly market or distribute the products to residents of the United States.
August 26, 2008
Advocates of steroid law reform are very disappointed that Democratic presidential candidate Barrack Obama selected Senator Joseph Biden as his vice presidential nominee. Senator Biden was the chief architect of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 that criminalized the possession of anabolic steroids for non-medical purposes. Biden also wrote the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 which opened the door for significantly harsher penalties for steroid possession and steroid distribution; this has resulted in the increased prosecution of steroid users over the past few years who are treated as dangerous criminals with the worst penalties for the non-medical use of steroids in history. Senator Biden has been on his anti-steroid crusade for almost two decades.
Steroid law expert Rick Collins revealed in testimony to the United States Sentencing Commission that the typical non-medical steroid users has been misrepresented to the public and to legislators.
August 26, 2008
Bryan Wilson of Pro Pharm Laboratories pleaded guilty to federal steroid distribution and money laundering charges as a result of Operation Raw Deal. Bryan Wilson and with his ex-wife, April Wilson, partnered illegally in the underground steroid business as well as legally in the “Smoothie Shop” located inside the Maximum Edge Discount Sport Supplement Store in Columbia.
Investigators amassed significant evidence in the case including the use of a confidential informant on ChemicallyEvolved.com to contact and purchase steroids from “Pro Pharm” as well as video surveillance of April Wilson shipping multiple steroid packages at the local post office. Bryan Wilson was arrested in September 2007 at a Kansas City UPS Store when he picked up approximatel one kilogram of steroid powder imported from the Qingdao province in eastern China; vials of Pro Pharm Labs trenbolone, testosterone, and oxandrolone inexplicably included a Kansas City zip code on the label as well (”Columbia man pleads guilty to charges of distributing anabolic steroids,” August 25).
Bryan Wilson’s plea agreement includes details about shipments delivered to his home from companies connected to steroid manufacturing, including a company that sells conversion kits used to turn testosterone powder into an injectable steroid. According to the agreement, investigators used a confidential source to contact Bryan Wilson through e-mail to order anabolic steroids.
The plea agreement also states that multiple bank accounts shared since 2002 by Bryan and April Wilson were used to conceal drug trafficking profits alongside income from the business they co-owned.
Bryan Wilson could face up to 30 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $1 million, according to the news release. The plea agreement states that Wilson will be sentenced at a later hearing.
August 24, 2008
Two additional guilty pleas have been linked to the Applied Pharmacy Services federal steroid investigation. Dr. David A. Wilbirt and his fiancée, Candace V. Toler, have both pleaded to conspiracy to illegally dispensing and distributing anabolic steroids. Physicians Scott Corliss, Kenneth Olds, Kelly Tucker and Pamela Pyle have previously pleaded guilty to steroid conspiracy charges while dispensing various anabolic steroids via Applied Pharmacy Services (APS); Anti-aging expert James Abernathy has also been linked to APS (”Doctor, fiancée plead guilty to steroids charges,” August 23).
Dr. David Wilbirt was busted during Operation Netroids where he was found to have sold thousands of prescriptions for anabolic steroids and controlled substances over the internet to numerous “patients” including several professional wrestlers Read more
August 22, 2008
The Owensboro Police Department in Kentucky seized 150 vials of anabolic steroids when they busted Charles Jowers on August 21, 2008. They also seized $200,000 cash along with a car and motorcycle. He has been alleged to have sold steroids on various bodybuilding forums under the following handles – “HCP,” “QGL Rep,” “Gymvet,” “The Champ,” and “HardcorePharm.” A steroid investigation by the Street Crimes Unit discovered that 47-year old Jowers shipped steroids via UPS (from a local Staples store) to customers (”Owensboro Steroid Trafficking Arrest,” August 22).
On Thursday night detectives from the Owensboro Police Department Street Crimes Unit arrested Charles M. Jowers of 2912 Legion Park Drive for Trafficking in a Controlled Substance (a 2nd Offense/Anabolic Steroids). An investigation revealed that Jowers shipped two packages in the last week through UPS from the Staples store located at 528 Southtown Boulevard that contained anabolic steroids. Detectives seized more than $200,000 in cash, 150 vials of anabolic steroids, a 2008 Nissan Altima, and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Charles Jowers remains in custody at the Daviess County Detention Center; he will be arraigned on Monday. He was on probation for previously selling anabolic steroids over the Internet. We will publish more details as they become available.
August 21, 2008
Wired Magazine identifies promising medical and pharmaceutical candidates that may represent the next generation of performance enhancement for Olympic athletes. As with any performance enhancing drug, bodybuilders are always the first guinea pigs to experiment with these drugs in the real world. After they receive the seal of approval from the bodybuilding community, the new drugs are ready for athletes in other professional sports where procedures are refined to avoid detection by anti-doping agencies. Here is a list of Wired’s top ten list they feel will represent the future of doping that almost make anabolic steroids obsolete Read more
August 20, 2008
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has targeted several unnamed officers from the Trenton Police Department. The State has sent “target” letters to officers suspected of using human growth hormone and/or anabolic steroids; they are being given the option of cooperating, facing a grand jury, or criminal indictment (”Trenton cops served notice that they’re targets of hormone probe,” August 12).
Several police sources, however, said that a handful of cops, some of them ranking officers, have recently received “target” letters asking for their cooperation in the case.
The investigation began with the steroid bust of Florida dentist Dr. Jeffrey Weiser who sold prescriptions for testosterone, human growth hormone (HGH), Deca Durabolin, Winstrol, Oxandrin, Nolvadex and Clomid to bodybuilders on the Internet for $50 per script per medication. Cops from the Trenton Police Department were allegedly clientele of Weiser’s “personal fitness consulting business.”
In 2005, Weiser pleaded guilty to the charges in federal court, and his sales records, seized in the investigation, led to the Trenton officers, according to published reports.
Steven Suarez, a steroid dealer who was busted in April 2008, is thought to be cooperating with authorities in the Trenton cop steroid scandal as well. Read more
August 20, 2008
Jeffrey Weiser, DDS. was the most popular dentist among bodybuilders for several years even though he never evaluated any patients. Yet he guaranteed to bring a big smile to the faces of his bodybuilding clientele.
Even though Weiser retired from the practice of dentistry in May 2001, he retained his DEA controlled substances registration enabling him to continue writing scripts for prescription medications. Weiser used his DEA license to write prescriptions for various anabolic steroids such as testosterone, nandrolone, oxandrolone and stanozolol; human growth hormone; and ancillary medications such as HCG, Clomid and Nolvadex from July 2001 through October 2004 for clients of his “personal fitness consulting business.”
Weiser advertised his services on various bodybuilding forums and found many customers who felt that they were legally obtaining anabolic steroids. After all, they received a prescription for the bodybuilding medications which they could take to their local pharmacy. There would be no legal risks with a prescription for steroids, would there?
August 19, 2008
Operation Raw Deal was the largest steroid law enforcement action in the history of the United States; it resulted in steroid busts involving 56 underground labs including Texstar Labs, Phalco Labs, Powerline Labs, Superior Labs, Medline Pharmaceuticals and Pacific Rim Labs. The steroid busts had a significant impact on underground steroid labs in the United States. But the United States exterted their heavy-handed political influence on other countries to adopt similar law enforcement actions against steroid users and steroid dealers. The nine other countries that worked in conjunction with the United States during Operation Raw Deal were Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Thailand.
Australia has been one of the leading cheerleaders of United States steroid law. They worked closely with the United States during Operation Raw Deal and executed their own large-scale steroid law enforcement action dubbed Operation Kasha Read more
August 19, 2008
Mercedes Coghen, the Spanish Olympic Committe bid chief, is aggressively lobbying to create national steroid laws in Spain consistent with anti-doping rules used by the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Organization (”Spain’s anti-doping drive boosts Madrid bid,” August 14).
“We needed to have a (anti-doping) law that is in the same line as the International Olympic Committee. They (sports authorities) have been working very, very hard on this and this is very good for Madrid 2016,” Coghen told Reuters in an interview.
Spain has seen its fair share of steroid and doping scandals involving steroid doctors collaborating with athletes and allegedly monitoring their use of performance enhancing drugs. Spanish authorities hope to rehabilitate their tarnished image to improve Madrid’s chances at winning the bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. An aggressive anti-doping effort, including attempts to legislate steroids and PEDs out of sports, is apparently a major part of this initiative.
August 15, 2008
New York Police Department (NYPD) Deputy Chief Michael Marino refused to accept departmental punishment that would dock him 30 days pay and place him on one year probation (”Steroid Cop will fight the rap,” August 15).
Marino was on testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) for which he obtained a topical testosterone cream from a Lowen’s Pharmacy. Unfortunately, Lowen’s Pharmacy was implicated in a high-profile steroid scandal involving the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The steroid hysteria involving cops on steroids unfairly maligned the media, the public, and NYPD against steroid use for any reason – even legitimate medical reasons.
August 14, 2008
Scientists are optimistic about gene therapies significantly increasing muscle mass in humans. Gene therapy will be widespread in the sport of bodybuilding much as anabolic pharmacology has seen unrestricted experimentation over the past three decades in bodybuilding.
A few medical researchers are working to make laissez faire gene therapy a reality in bodybuilding. Actually, their intent is to create medical therapies for conditions such as muscular dystrophy, age-related sarcopenia, HIV and AIDS-related wasting, and cancer cachexia. But bodybuilders will clearly exploit the muscle-building potential of these therapies in the real-world laboratory of competitive bodybuilding.
These are the scientists that bodybuilders and athletes should watch…
August 13, 2008
An investigative report claims that anabolic steroids may have caused the deaths of three clients of a Phoenix-based longevity clinic in the past year. The ABC affiliate in Phoenix reports that Brian Stubstad, Aaron Atchley and Filip Petrovic purchased anabolic steroids including testosterone, Anadrol and trenbolone from the Revolution Medical Center clinic. Doctors and investigators are trying to prove that the steroid treatment prescribed by Revolution “caused” the suicides and deaths (”Deaths raise new questions about steroids sold at Phoenix clinic,” August 13).
All three men have at least two things in common, they were taking steroids and they were getting them at Revolution Medical Centers, a Phoenix-based clinic that’s currently under state and federal investigation.
“We’re looking to see if there is a causal relationship between the death and the treatment or therapy they were being given,” said Dr. Craig Runbeck, executive director, Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Board of Medical Examiners.
The three deceased men also had another thing in common – the medical examiners in each of the respective cases did not suspect anabolic steroids as a cause of death and did not run a toxicology for them.
In fact, the autopsy of Aaron Atchley found clear evidence that his death was due to an accidental prescription drug overdose involving of Xanax, Oxycontin and cocaine!
August 10, 2008
Bruce Douthit, MD of the Baylor Medical Center at Frisco revealed himself as a secret weapon in the fight against steroid use by teenagers in high schools and steroid use in sports at the Texas Steroid Summit. He guaranteed that he could simply look at an athlete and determine whether they are using banned or illegal anabolic steroids (”Summit in Frisco to address dangers of steroids,” August 10).
But I guarantee you, if I could walk through the school and pick the athletes there to be tested, my positive rate would be a whole lot higher, because I can look at them and tell whether they’ve been doing it.
