April 28, 2009
Teenage bodybuilder Matthew Dear died on April 20, 2009 reportedly from an overdose of anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear were the first to attribute their son’s death to anabolic steroids. The news of Matthew Dear’s “steroid death” was initially reported by “The Daily Mirror”, a British tabloid but was soon picked up and legitimized by mainstream UK media outlets such as BBC News, the Daily Mail, and the Sunday Times. Could the steroid-attributed death of Matt Dear spread steroid hysteria throughout the United Kingdom much like the death of Taylor Hooton affected the steroid discussion in the United States?
The assertions that anabolic steroids were responsible for causing enlarged pupils, blindness, intoxication, severe abdominal pains, convulsions, brain swelling and kidney failure are pretty outrageous. These side effects are not medically substantiated adverse effects of anabolic steroids. Matthew Dear’s doctor even told the parents that he never witness any such reaction to anabolic steroids. The parents of Matthew Dear nonethless felt compelled to blame anabolic steroids. Read more
March 15, 2009
Anabolic steroids are demonized in case materials used for the 23rd Annual Oregon High School Mock Trial Competition on March 13-14, 2009. The competition is intended to enhance proficiency in “critical thinking skills such as analyzing and reasoning.” However, high students participating in the mock trial contest were not allowed to critically and honestly examine anabolic steroids and their side effects. Challenging the inaccurate steroid information within the case materials was prohibited. The goal of the mock trial was to argue the assignment of fault in the fictitious death of Jordan Simon. Was the defendant responsible for Jordan’s death due to negligence or misconduct? Or was the deceased responsible for voluntarily assuming the risks? The assignment of fault may be in dispute, but one thing was certain – steroids caused Jordan Simon’s death.
The wrongful death case of Simon v. Swift and Eastside High School involves a high school track sprinter who died from a heart attack presumably caused by an anabolic steroid overdose. Student mock trial participants are told that erythropoeitin (EPO) is an anabolic steroid in the case materials. This is false. But the students are not permitted to question this false assumption by calling for information outside the scope of the case materials. EPO is repeatedly identified, albeit erroneously, as an anabolic steroid throughout the case material, exhibits, and expert testimony.
Participants are told that an anabolic steroid overdose can cause heart attacks. Anabolic steroids can NOT cause an acute fatal overdose. There is no direct association between anabolic steroids and heart attacks. While long-term abuse of anabolic steroids can result in serious adverse cardiovascular consequences, an isolated cycle of anabolic steroids is unlikely to cause anything other than transient changes in cardiovascular indicators, and certainly not a heart attack. Yet, the case materials in Simon v. Swift and Eastside High School suggest that anabolic steroids caused the heart attack. The autopsy report lists the cause of death as “heart attack due to accidental drug overdose” noting extremely elevated post-mortem levels of serum erythropoeitin (EPO). EPO has been directly associated with heart attacks in competitive athletes (particularly cyclists). Steroid have not. Read more
March 14, 2009
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson admitted to using anabolic steroids in an interview with MTV Movies Editor Josh Horowitz. The former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar admitted using anabolic steroids along with his friends around the time he played collegiate football as a defensive tackle for the 1991 NCAA Division I-A national champion Miami Hurricanes. The admission of steroid use has almost become a rite of passage for athletes and entertainers with very muscular physiques during the contemporary era of steroid hysteria. The personable Johnson had fun with the admission in an entertaining discussion of steroid use with MTV News; the revelation of steroid use happened while promoting his latest Disney movie “Race to Witch Mountain” in the back of a New York City yellow cab (”Dwayne Johnson Admits To Steroid Use Years Ago,” March 12). Read more
March 11, 2009
Nicolas Cage was first offered and accepted the role of Randy “The Ram” Robinson in the movie “The Wrestler” before finally rejecting the lead role of the steroid-using grappler. The highly-regarded method actor implied that he quit the role because he was not willing to use anabolic steroids and make the physical transformation necessary for a believable performance as a professional wrestler. Director Darren Aronofsky gave the role to Mickey Rourke whose stunning performance (and physique) earned him a Golden Globe award and Oscar nomination (”Nicolas Cage: I Wasn’t ‘Dropped’ From ‘The Wrestler’,” March 11).
Access Hollywood caught up with Nicolas at the premiere of his new movie, “Knowing,” Monday night in New York, where the actor cleared up recent rumors that he was let go from the Darren Aronofsky-directed project.
“I wasn’t quote ‘dropped’ from the movie,” the 45-year-old actor told Access. “I resigned from the movie because I didn’t think I had enough time to achieve the look of the wrestler who was on steroids, which I would never do.”
Nicolas Cage was once known for an intense passion for method acting that took the technique to an entirely new level. His adamant refusal to use steroids for a movie role may suggest that Nicolas Cage’s method acting madness is part of his past.
To be a good actor you have to be something like a criminal,” Cage once remarked, “to be willing to break the rules to strive for something new…”
Nicolas Cage’s statements on steroids imply, purposefully or not, that Mickey Rourke must have used steroids for the role.
March 3, 2009
Actor Scott Siegel was the target of an investigation into the trafficking of illegal anabolic steroids by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Westchester County Drug Enforcement Task Force. Siegel discovered an unmarked DEA car in the parking lot of his parents’ townhome in the Lake Isle gated community in Eastchester, New York on February 18, 2009. Siegel walked around the DEA vehicle and looked in all four windows and the front windshield, all of which were tinted, and told the four undercover agents inside, “Nice fucking car.” Siegel then drove away. After realizing their surveillance was blown, it appears that the DEA called backup including officers from the Eastchester Police Department and the Tuckahoe Police Department. Law enforcement officers approached Siegel upon his return to the Lake Isle Townhouse. Siegel fled in his car and intentionally hit several vehicles belonging to local and federal law enforcement agencies before being arrested.
Law enforcement agents obtained search warrants the next day for the Lake Isle Townhouse and Siegel’s residence and seized significant quantities of anabolic steroids and cash according to the criminal complaint Read more
February 18, 2009
Anabolic steroids generally improve the level of athletic performance. Improved performance is, by most accounts, good for sport. MLB umpire Tim McClelland recently questioned how one could fault an athlete for doing something that makes him a better player. Sidney Gendin, professor of philosophy of law at Eastern Michigan University, has even suggested that we should only ban those athletes who refuse to use steroids.
Janean Marti argues in an editorial that professional athletes have an obligation to their fans to use steroids to improve their performance. After all, how else can an athlete like Alex Rodriguez plausibly begin to justify his $275 million baseball contract to his employers and/or to his fans? Furthermore, Marti highlights the utter hypocrisy of society’s condemnation of the unacceptable dangers of steroids and criticism of the wrong message it sends to young people Read more
February 16, 2009
John Cena was sickened by MLB player Alex Rodriguez’ admission that he used anabolic steroids according to a recent interview. The actor and rapper is employed by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) which has experienced its share of steroid-related controversy including a recent Congressional investigation into steroid use in professional wrestling and the apparent widespread use of steroids in pro wrestling. Nonetheless, John Cena believes that steroid users should go to jail (”Cena works hard on his rags to riches story,” February 16).
What happened with Alex Rodriguez and the steroids revelations sickened him. He thinks if everyone really wants to get serious about cleaning up the game, “they should send the guys to jail.”
Cena is about as cut as they come, but he said he’s not steroid enhanced.
“I’m not only a guy who will say I’m clean, but I’ll beat my chest to the world that I’m clean,” he said. “I have very, very strong opinions on that.”
John Cena’s belief that individual steroid use should be criminalize is somewhat surprising since Cena appeared to share director Chris Bell’s disdain for the hypocrisy of steroid laws. Cena asked Bell about anabolic steroids when compared and contrasted with legal, acceptable drugs that are more addictive and harmful than steroids. Chris Bell, the director of the steroid documentary ‘Bigger Stronger Faster*’, offered an excellent response criticizing the demonization of steroids suggesting that society has “deemed steroids immoral simply because they are illegal.”
But any assumption that John Cena was on the same page as Chris Bell was clearly erroneous. Most people who have worked at Gold’s Gym Venice and have had the chance to interact with steroid users on a regular basis tend to be more critical of steroid laws that put otherwise law-abiding citizens in jail. But not John Cena.
February 10, 2009
President Barrack Obama commented on anabolic steroids during his first presidential press conference in response to a question by Washington Post reporter Michael A. Fletcher. Fletcher surprisingly asked President Obama about Alex Rodriguez’ admission of anabolic steroid use during his Major League Baseball career, “What is your reaction to Alex Rodriguez’s admission that he used steroids as a member of the Texas Rangers?” (”Obama’s First News Conference Covers A Range Of Issues,” February 9)
“I think it’s depressing news on top of what’s been a flurry of depressing items when it comes to Major League Baseball. And if you’re a fan of Major League Baseball, I think it tarnishes an entire era to some degree. And it’s unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ball players who played it straight.
“And the thing I’m probably most concerned about is the message that it sends to our kids. What I’m pleased about is Major League Baseball seems to finally be taking this seriously, to recognize how big of a problem this is for the sport, and that our kids, hopefully, are watching and saying ‘You know what? There are no short cuts.’ That when you try to take short cuts, you may end up tarnishing your entire career. And your integrity’s not worth it. That’s the message I hope is communicated.”
The Washington Post asked the only question that did not involve domestic or foreign policy and was widely criticized as being inappropriate given the importance of other issues discussed during the prime-time presidential press conference. Read more
January 13, 2009
![](http://www.mesomorphosis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/mickey-rourke-in-the-wrestler.jpg "Mickey Rourke character uses anabolic steroids in \")
The steroid witch-hunt has expanded beyond athletes in professional sports to include performers in the entertainment industry. The recent government investigation into the pervasive use of anabolic steroids in the scripted entertainment of professional wrestling marks a departure from their focus on steroids in sports. The results of the investigation into steroid use in professional wrestling were conveniently released immediately prior to the nationwide theatrical release of “The Wrestler” promising to capitalize on the heightened media attention given to steroids in wrestling.
A movie about a professional wrestler who uses anabolic steroids that is played by an actor (Mickey Rourke) suspected of steroid use (with a history, marked by multiple physical altercations along with arrests for spousal abuse and resisting arrest, that lends itself to a roid rage interpretation) provides the perfect opportunity for anti-steroid crusaders to target the use of steroids in the entertainment industry.
There will certainly be much discussion about the parallels between Mickey Rourke and his character, Randy “The Ram” Robinson especially when it comes to steroid use. The discussion about Rourke’s physical transformation will remain in the news with every accolade awarded to “The Wrestler” from the recent Golden Globe awards to possible Oscar awards.
Everyone suspects that Mickey Rourke used steroids to obtain the physique seen in “The Wrestler.” The New York Daily News and Men’s Journal does Read more
January 8, 2009
Dan Clark, best know as “Nitro” from the original American Gladiator television series, was inspired by Jose Canseco to write an autobiographical book about the evils of anabolic steroids. Nitro claims that his “steroid addiction” led to “a life of pissing blood, smuggling drugs, destroying hotel rooms, getting arrested, growing breasts, and lying bloodied in the street after a vicious fight with his best friend.” Dan Clark tells TMZ he was inspired by Jose Canseco to write a book about the dangers of steroids Read more
January 6, 2009
United States government investigators targeted World Wrestling Entertainment Chairman Vince McMahon in a contentious and adversarial meeting that appeared to be nothing more than a steroid witch-hunt; investigators asked very few factual questions during the three-hour interrogation at the Rayburn building. David J. Leviss, Senior Investigative Counsel for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, repeatedly asked McMahon for his lay opinion on the medical and pharmacological aspects of anabolic steroids.
After over two hours of dubious questioning failed to bear fruit, the House Government Reform Committee investigators attempted to salvage the interview with a last-ditch effort to implicate Vince McMahon as a user of anabolic steroids perhaps hoping they could trick him into perjuring himself. (Perjury has been a popular weapon used by federal investigators to pursue steroid users.)
The government investigators reconvened after a short break to ask McMahon about his own use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. In what appear to be hastily arranged questions, Leviss inaccurately referenced events in the 1993 case of USA v. Vincent K. McMahon in which McMahon was acquitted of conspiracy to distribute anabolic steroids to wrestlers. David J. Leviss, Senior Investigative Counsel, was promptly put in his place by Vince McMahon’s counsel Jerry S. McDevitt, Esq. Read more
December 23, 2008
Robert Pfeffer, a 64-year old man, has sued two deputies allegedly exhibiting “roid rage” during an incident where one of the deputies tasered him. Deputy John Eaton, with the Lee County Sherriff’s Office, “escorted” Pfeffer to the ground and tasered him while Pfeffer was walking away from an ambulance. The EMS ambulance was requested by Pfeffer’s wife to attend to Mr. Pfeffer’s severe chest pains after receiving an implanted heart defibrillator (”Lee deputies face lawsuit after man Tasered during arrest,” December 22).
The plaintiff, Robert J. Pfeffer, a 64-year-old Bonita Springs man, was walking with his wife in their Spanish Wells neighborhood on April 11, 2007, when he suddenly felt sharp pain in his legs and chest. Pfeffer has a heart defibrillator, and his wife called paramedics out of concern he might be having a heart attack.
Pfeffer refused treatment after being seen by EMTs, and he began to walk home. The two deputies, John Eaton and Thomas Chappell, both of whom were assigned to the Bonita Springs Community Policing Unit, arrived at Spanish Wells and confronted the man. At some point, Eaton tackled Pfeffer — or, as the arrest report states, “escorted him to the ground” — and Chappell shot Pfeffer with his Taser stun gun.
The possible use of anabolic steroids and “roid rage” that could have caused the “improper, illegal and excessive use of force” were specifically cited by Robert Pfeffer in an amended complaint alleging multiple constitutional and civil rights violations by Deputy John Eaton, his partner Deputy Thomas Chappell and their boss Lee County Sheriff Michael Joseph Scott. Read more
December 20, 2008
Mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter Justin Levens and his wife Sarah McLean-Levens were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide on Wednesday, December 17, 2009. An autopsy was conducted on Thursday but investigators are still awaiting the results of toxicology tests to determine if the deceased had used any drugs prior to their deaths. Yet, bloggers and writers are jumping on the steroid bandwagon blaming anabolic steroids as a potential culprit for the tragedy (”Justin Levens Suspected of Killing Wife and Himself,” December 18).
Wrestling is a sport that has brutal action, and often an even more brutal aftermath for fighters. Mixed martial arts, which is becoming a powerful alternative to wrestling, appears to be no different. Drugs, steroids and a bad mental state outside the ring may be just as prominent in mixed martial arts. That may have been the case for former competitor Justin Levens, who is suspected to have killed himself after killing his wife.
A few have approached the Levens murder-suicide tragedy without such steroid hysterics. Fightlinker thinks people need to stop focusing so much on steroids while ignoring painkillers which are a “bigger elephant in the room” (”Stop trying to disown Justin Levens,” December 19).
Levens was a mixed martial artist who was hooked on painkillers. Pain med addiction is a serious problem in our sport, and it’s only getting worse. What happened with Levens was obviously a rare and horrible outcome, and it’s not like we’re expecting James Irvin and Joe Riggs to go off like ticking time bombs any second now. But we might want to maybe consider looking into the painkiller issue. I don’t know what can be done, but at this point they’re a bigger elephant in the room than steroids are.
Sherdog makes note of several events that point to potential painkiller use/abuse by Justin Leven aka “The Executioner” Read more
December 5, 2008
The Bangkok airports resumed full operations today after an eight-day closure which brought international commerce in Thailand to a standstill with unfortunate consequences for anabolic steroid users who purchase their gear from Thailand-based sources. The blockade of Bangkok’s airport will nonetheless result in delayed steroid shipments and increased the numbers of lost parcels over the next few weeks (”No packages from Thailand this Christmas,” November 29).
International items are now being redirected via neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. I presume these countries will have a field day scanning the Thai mail for contraband. There have been multiple reports of packages simply vanishing off the tracking systems altogether.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) forced the closure of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Asia’s fourth busiest airport, and Don Muang Airport, a major international hub for Asian air traffic, for the past week. The anti-government group occupied the airports demonstrating against Thailand’s People’s Power Party in a case of electoral fraud demanding that the ruling party’s Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resign. The political upheaval has crippled the economy, not only the tourism industry, but the Thai export business including the thriving pharmaceutical steroid business. The seige ended and airports reopened after a Thai court removed Wongsawat from her post (”Protracted Thai Crisis Is Choking Its Economy,” December 1).
Many businesses rely heavily on Bangkok’s airports to move their goods and supplies, especially Suvarnabhumi, a $4 billion facility opened two years ago, normally moves about 100,000 passengers a day. Bangkok handles an estimated 3% of the world’s air cargo.
Some businesses are now sending goods for export roughly 1,000 kilometers overland through Thailand’s southern neighbor, Malaysia. But that involves a full day’s journey by road or rail through stretches of southern Thailand, where a bloody Islamic separatist insurgency has left 3,000 people dead since 2004.
Officials at Thailand’s Board of Investment said Friday that customs officials at the Malaysian border “cannot cope” with all the traffic, and were planning to keep checkpoints open around the clock to move more vehicles.
The impact of the airport sieges is spreading by the day. Thailand’s postal service says it has 23 metric tons, or 240,000 pieces of mail waiting to be delivered..
November 19, 2008
Steve Kettmann, the ghostwriter for Jose Canseco’s autobiographical memoir that exposed the use of anabolic steroid in Major League Baseball, reviews the Manhattan Theatre Club production of playwright Itamar Moses’ dramedy about the steroids in baseball scandal. The off-broadway play “Back Back Back” is a fictionalized portrayal of the relationship between Bash Brothers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, and the use of anabolic steroids during their baseball careers (”New play examines relationship between Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire,” November 15).
Steve Kettmann’s over-familiarity with the source material gives him a unique perspective on the relationship between Canseco and McGwire. Kettmann covered the Oakland Athletics baseball team for the San Francisco Chronicle between 1994 and 1998 and was on friendly terms with the Bash Brothers Canseco and McGwire. Kettmann’s relationship with Mark McGwire became much less friendly when he asserted that McGwire used anabolic steroids in a New York Times editorial entitled “Baseball Must Come Clean on Its Darkest Secret.” But Kettmann stayed in Canseco’s good graces eventually hanging out with him extensively to ghostwrite the explosive steroid expose “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big” which featured descriptions of Canseco injecting McGwire with steroids.
So when Itamar Moses reflects upon the reasons the Jose Canseco proxy “Raul” wrote the book that destroyed the hall of fame chances teammate Mark McGwire proxy Kent, Kettman finds the discussion “deeply fascinating and irresistible.” Read more
