Jesse Haggard Prosecution, Medical Steroids and Excesses of Steroid Witch-Hunt
October 24, 2009 by Millard Baker
Dr. Jesse Haggard is quickly becoming a martyr to the cause of medical steroids. There is no better example of the excesses of the modern day steroid witch-hunt than the federal government’s prosecution of the Arizona naturopathic physician.
Dr. Haggard is being prosecuted by the federal government for allegedly prescribing anabolic steroids “outside the usual course of professional practice” and “not for legitimate medical purposes”. Yet Dr. Haggard not only met the standard of care but often established the medical standard of care with off-label prescribing of anabolic steroids supported by scientific and clinical evidence.
In a recent communication, Dr. Haggard warned healthcare practitioners that evidence-based prescribing of anabolic steroids can not be advised in the present-day climate of steroid hysteria. Haggard advocates steroid law reform as the solution that will allow medical practitioners to prescribe anabolic steroids more freely, and without restraint, in appropriate medical conditions (”Steroid Phobia,” October 11).
I am writing this text from inside an Orange County jail cell. I am sharing a room no larger than 400 square feet and one in-room toilet with seven other men. I have been here for 9 long days and have no clear idea when I will be able to leave and begin court proceedings in another county.
I want to believe that “truth will prevail” and that science will reveal steroids as a valuable and safe treatment option for patients. That potential has been more difficult for me to visualize each day I reside in this setting. Although this dream’s clarity has previously waxed and waned over the course of one and a half years, it has reached a low point for me.
I have painstakingly documented the thousands of beneficial patient results utilizing steroids in my book, “Demystifying Steroids“. I have proven to myself beyond doubt that steroids can be a powerful and wonderful tool in medicine. I tried to communicate it to others as well, but did I fail?
If by some miracle I was vindicated and allowed to practice medicine again, I ask myself, “Would I prescribe steroids again in the same manner?” When I answer this question, the longing desire to see my family burns inside me and is a powerful incentive to answer, “No!” Despite knowing the facts of steroids benefits and safety with pervasive confidence, I cannot at this point condone its future use by practitioners in current context.
So if I, as a leading proponent of medical steroid therapies, am unwilling to accept the risk of prescribing steroids in the future absent steroid law reform, how can I honestly expect my healthcare provider colleagues to consider prescribing steroids more often and possibly more appropriately in a largely hypogonadal patient population?
My conclusion is medical research is clearly not enough to eliminate the fear of healthcare providers when it comes to prescribing steroids. I believe a legislative change in medicine is appropriate based on recent research and necessary in order to expect healthcare practitioners to alter their prescribing habits and reduce the risk of legal consequences associated with steroids. In the light of recent and dramatic changes in the medical paradigm (compared to the last 70 years) regarding steroids, it is not unreasonable to me to expect complimentary and simultaneous legislative changes. Steroid legislation and legal status have had no change in 20 years despite landmark steroid findings released during the last decade in the medical literature. How can we work together to bring about this needed change?
-written by Dr. Jesse Haggard, October 11, 2009
Dr. Haggard’s prosecution reflects the devastating impact that hysteria related to steroids in sports has had on the prescribing of anabolic steroids for legitimate medical purposes. Congressional attacks on anabolic steroids and misguided DEA steroid law enforcement policy have created an environment where medical healthcare providers are afraid to prescribe steroids and explore the amazing therapeutic potentials this class of drugs may hold for the overall health and well-being of their patients. This fear is only reinforced with the prosecutions of doctors like Dr. Haggard.
The DEA has inexplicably inserted itself into the medical steroid debate by making determinations as to what constitutes appropriate medicine. Law enforcement has asserted their superior “qualifications” to practice medicine over trained medical practitioners who want to provide anabolic therapies for their patients when appropriate. The moral crusade demonizing steroids in sports has regrettably trumped the medical evidence supporting the off-label use of anabolic steroids.
Will the Dr. Haggard case represent the turning point in the government’s steroid witch-hunt? Will the public oppose existing steroid legislation that limits their freedoms in healthcare and access to innovative anabolic steroid therapies?
