The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) thanked governments around the world for joining them in their efforts to internationalize steroid law around the world during a ceremony to celebrate the ratification of the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport 2005 by over 100 countries.
WADA has explicitly stated their desire for all national governments to criminalize the use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs as defined in the WADA code. WADA’s politically-correct and moralistic agenda, like U.S. steroid law enforcement policy, seeks to pressure and coerce other governments to think alike and conform to accept its policy as the defacto international anti-steroid policy (”WADA praises governments for anti-doping stance,” November 12).
WADA’s David Howman said Wednesday that 102 countries have ratified the UNESCO Convention on Doping in Sport since it came into force nearly two years ago. It means anti-doping measures become part of national law in the countries that have ratified the agreement.
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“We’re not there yet, we still have a long way to go. (Doping) is too easy in many countries because there are not strong enough laws,” Howman said. “Let’s enhance the fight through legislation.”
Steroid policy experts have been critical of the internationalization of steroid law for its highly politicized and moralistic agenda. Philip Sweitzer analyzes the trend of political correctness in the current debate on steroid law policy that has troubling consequences for countries around the world
Bishop Dolegiewicz, who was former Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s first supplier of anabolic steroids, died at the age of 55 on October 28, 2008. Dolegiewicz was a three-time Olympic track and field athlete for Canada and considered one of the all-time best throwers (particularly in the shot put and discus) in sports history. He also competed in the World’s Strongest Man competition and was widely considered to be one of the strongest men in the world. His accomplishments as an athlete and as a coach are legendary and deserving of tribute. However, since this is an anabolic steroid blog, I will focus on Dolegiewicz significant role in the history of anabolic steroids in sports.
When Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for stanozolol during the 100 meter finals at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the reaction triggered the largest government-sponsored investigation into performance enhancing drugs in history by Canada. The Dubin “Commission of Inquiry into the Use of Drugs and Banned Practices Intended to Increase Athletic Performance” (aka Dubin Inquiry) produced 14,000 pages of testimony from 119 witnesses at the cost of $3-4 million in 1989. The Dubin Inquiry is credited with breaking the code of omertà regarding anabolic steroid use in sports.
The Dubin Inquiry also revealed that Bishop Dolegiewicz was widely considered to be a major steroid supplier for many track and field athletes in Canada, including Ben Johnson. He was also known for his expertise and knowledge on anabolic steroids and anabolic pharmacology.
The IOC are growing increasingly frustrated at Britain’s refusal to introduce legislation to outlaw the possession, supply and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs.
Their stance leaves them out of step with other European countries such as Sweden, France, Italy, Greece and Germany where anti-doping laws mean athletes and their suppliers can go to jail.
Great Britain’s refusal to blindly follow the trend towards the internationalization of steroid law taking hold in the rest of the European Union presents a significant threat to the moral authority of the IOC. The IOC has promoted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code as the guide for certain moral offenses that should be criminalized.
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.
When Richard Janeczko, Australian Customs national investigations manager, intercepted 80 kilograms of anabolic steroid powder in Sydney in June 2008, he immediately suspected that Australian Olympic athletes were the intended recipients of these steroids even though absolutely NO link with Australian athletes had been uncovered.
But when Australian Customs intercepted 150 bottle bottles of testosterone and Deca Durabolin disguised as “Gay Lube Oil,” Janeczko was quick to emphasize how unlikely it would be for Australia’s Olympic athletes to use steroids marketed as “Gay Lube Oil” (”Gay lube oil contained banned steroids,” July 30).
“The bulk of the people we investigate are actually not elite sports people. The people that want to enhance their image either gym people, security guards, bikies.”
It is thought that Janeczko believes Australian athletes only use steroids with names like “British Dragon” and “Animal Power” with bulldogs, horses, bulls, dragons (and of course kangaroos) on the labels.
Australian Customs and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) are telling the press that an Australian-born Caucasian man living in China is the steroid kingpin and mastermind behind a massive scale distribution of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes competing in Beijing China this summer. The speculation is based on a case involving the seizure of 80kg of steroid powder (containing 40kg active ingredients) intercepted by Australian Customs at at Port Botany (Sydney).
Richard Janeczko, Australian Customs national investigations manager, makes the irresponsible and completely unsubstantiated claim that Olympic athletes were the intended recipients of these steroids even though absolutely NO link with Australian athletes has been uncovered (”Olympic doping linked to huge raid,” June 28)!
China announced the revocation of the GeneScience Pharmaceutical license to manufacturer Jintropin brand human growth hormone. This represents a major success in efforts towards the internationalization of steroid and doping law by the United States. The U.S. federal government indicted CEO Lei Jin and GeneScience Pharmaceutical Inc. last fall as part of Operation Raw Deal (”China Cracks Down on Drug Companies,” June 19).
One of the drugmakers that China named Wednesday was GeneScience Pharmaceutical, which is based in northern China and run by an American-educated executive. Last September, a federal grand jury in Rhode Island indicted the company for illegally distributing millions of dollars in human growth hormones in the United States. The company had denied the allegation, but its American agent pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to distribute H.G.H.
