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 Read more
United States Magistrate Judge David Baker refused to release Dr. Jesse Haggard at a detention hearing at the U.S. Courthouse in Orlando. Dr. Haggard has been detained without bail as a flight risk pending his transfer to Mobile, Alabama sometime in the next 10-14 days. Federal prosecutors argued that Haggard knew he was under federal investigation at the time he moved to Costa Rica and that Haggard knew he should have surrendered based on postings on his personal blog and legal documents he signed before he left. Magistrate Judge Baker was not influenced by defense arguments that Haggard voluntarily surrendered and therefore was not a flight risk.
The blockbuster revelation during court proceedings on Wednesday was that the federal government “hired” local news media to actively assist them with their investigation of Dr. Jesse Haggard and Revolution Medical Center. A source with knowledge of the court proceedings indicated that the government worked with television crews in Phoenix to conduct an undercover investigation to gather evidence against Haggard.
The television news station was not identified. Suggestions that the federal government has paid news organizations to conduct their steroid witch-hunt are highly disturbing.
Dr. Jesse Haggard will appear today before United States Magistrate Judge David Baker in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in his first court appearance since voluntarily surrendering to federal authorities on Friday. Haggard will be represented by federal public defender Clarence W. Counts, Jr.
Dr. Haggard had been living in Costa Rica for over a year preparing a scientific defense to support the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids during the course of his medical practice. The naturopathic physician moved to Costa Rica with his family to escape the hysteria perpetuated by the local media. Haggard was harrassed and practically stalked by ABC15 “investigative journalist” Josh Bernstein in a sensationalistic tabloid-style witch-hunt. Haggard wrote and published the book “Demystifying Steroids“, a patient and practictioner guide to anabolic steroid therapy, while in Costa Rica.
Although Haggard has been called a fugitive by federal prosecutors, this may not be entirely accurate. Haggard had travelled and resided in Costa Rica for approximately eight months prior to being indicted on federal steroid charges. Furthermore, Dr. Haggard or Timothy Holt (Haggard’s legal representation at the time) were never served or shown a warrant for his arrest. Apparently, the government only shared the warrant with ABC15’s Josh Bernstein.
Dr. Jesse Haggard, the former clinical director of Revolution Medical Centers, will voluntarily surrender to federal agents in Florida on Friday, October 2, 2009. Haggard will be taken into custody at the Orlando International Airport and transported to Alabama where he faces steroid distribution charges.
Dr. Haggard was indicted as part of the Applied Pharmacy Services criminal investigation announced in January 2009. The government has accused Haggard of prescribing anabolic steroids “outside the usual course of professional practice” and “not for legitimate medical purposes”. However, unlike other doctors similarly prosecuted, Haggard had an indisputable doctor-patient relationship with all of his patients that included comprehensive laboratory testing; Haggard never prescribed anabolic steroids over the internet or to any patients not evaluated during an in-person medical examination.
Dr. Jesse Haggard, former clinical director of Revolution Medical Centers, has become a federal fugitive after being indicted by prosecutors in the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid investigation. Dr. Haggard unapologetically condemned the United States government’s witch-hunt against him and defended the therapeutic use of anabolic steroids during the course of his medical practice in his recently published book “Demystifying Steroids“. Dr. Jesse Haggard told a local news station that he wrote the book as “a way to ensure my message to the public was not distorted.”
Timothy Holt, the attorney for Dr. Haggard, accused the United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile of political grandstanding while defending his client’s prescribing of anabolic steroids for legitimate medical purposes Read more
A long-anticipated federal indictment against Applied Pharmacy Services (APS) on charges of conspiracy and distribution of anabolic steroids was unsealed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama in Mobile. The massive 198-count federal indictment identifies twelve individuals as part of the Applied Pharmacy Services steroid distribution network including pharmacy owners and pharmacists, and doctors and businessmen who profited from customer referrals to APS. Six co-conspirators in the APS steroid distribution network were previously indicted in separate cases (”Pharmacy owners, others are charged in steroids case,” January 22).
“Each of the pharmacy owners and pharmacists named in the indictment are charged with prescribing and selling veterinary steroids, approved for cattle and livestock only, to humans,” U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes said in a prepared statement. “We will continue to work with the DEA, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the Alabama Board of Pharmacy to ensure that medical professionals who abuse their position of trust are held accountable.”
The United States Attorney’s Office in Mobile showed a considerable penchant for political grandstanding against steroids in the APS indictment. U.S. Attorney Deborah Rhodes and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Donna Dobbins and Maria Murphy felt compelled to use inflammatory language in the indictment that was seemingly more reflective of personal anti-steroid bias than steroid law.
The prosecutors did not miss an opportunity to inject the label of “steroid user” to indicted individuals which served no other purpose than cheap attempts to further demonize the invididual; rather than restrict language such that it conformed to legally-defined crimes, prosecutors repeatedly identified defendants as “steroid dealers.” Read more
Maricopa County Medical Examiner Vladimir Shvarts, M.D. has added anabolic steroid intoxication as a contributing factor in an accidental fatal drug overdose. The cause of death for Aaron Michael Achley was originally attributed to an accidental overdose of the prescription drugs Xanax (alprazolam) and Oxycontin (oxycodone) in addition to the recreational drug Cocaine.
The family of Aaron Achley, ABC15 Investigative Reporter Josh Berstein and Arizona state investigators pressured the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner to change the official cause of death to include steroids. The medical examiner repeatedly refused to conduct additional testing for steroids. However, the medical examiner apparently relented once Doreen Achley, the victim’s mother, paid to have tissue samples tested by an independent lab (”Autopsy amended to include anabolic steroids,” October 24).
The amended “pathological diagnoses” on Aaron Achley’s autopsy identified the drugs responsible for the accidental fatal “Combined drug intoxication.” This time anabolic steroids (allegedly testosterone obtained from Revolution Medical Center) were a contributing factor to the death.
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!
Reporters from around the country have descended upon Houston, Texas pursuing their steroid witch hunt against anyone who may have used steroids or could have potentially provided anabolic steroids to Major League Baseball players e.g. Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The targets in their steroid investigation have expanded from fitness professionals Kelly Blair (of 1-on-1 Elite Personal Fitness) and Shaun Kelley (of Shaun Kelley Weight Control) to at least one Houston-area physician.
In the absence of evidence connecting Shaun Kelley with providing steroids to Roger Clemens, speculation surrounds Lisa Routh, M.D. of Brainwaves Neuroimaging Clinic in Houston who worked with Shaun Kelley.
There is no evidence that Dr. Routh prescribed steroids to Roger Clemens or any major league baseball player for that matter but she was outspoken in her defense of the use of anabolic steroids in medicine. She admits to prescribing testosterone and growth hormone to policemen, professional wrestlers, and people who work out in an effort to improve their quality of life. Furthermore, Dr. Routh proposed that professional athletes be permitted to use performance enhancing drugs under a doctor’s supervision (”Houston-area gyms part of drug culture beyond sports scope,” March 16).
Interviews with Routh, of the Brainwaves Medical Center in Houston, and with eight former and current employees of Kelley, reveal a corner of the fitness industry where the same drugs that are stigmatizing professional sports are seen simply as a lifestyle choice for others.
Routh told The News that she regularly prescribed testosterone and human growth hormone for a large number of Boston policemen, who “get on a frickin’ plane and come down here twice a year, for frickin’ growth hormone and testosterone.”
She said she prescribes other hormones for menopausal women and professional wrestlers – all in the name of quality of life. Furthermore she argued for legalizing such drugs in professional sports, provided athletes have medical care.
“We pay them ridiculously, because we expect performance, and I think the bottom line is safety,” says Routh, who proposes allowing big-league baseball clubs to contract with five or 10 doctors in every city who would be the only league-approved providers of drugs. Players caught going elsewhere for their ‘roids would get hit with a fine.
“If someone wants to use human growth hormone or a testosterone product, they need to be under a physician’s supervision,” says Routh. “If they buy stuff off the black market or off some gym rat and they’re not under a doctor’s supervision, they should pay a penalty, and they should get the penalty that hurts, in the wallet.”
The Daily News also persists in its efforts to tarnish and incriminate fitness professionals in Houston. They continued their attack on 1-on -1 Elite Personal Fitness (even though Kelly Blair categorically denied their allegations) by reporting that co-owner Kevin Schexnider was prescribed testosterone cypionate and Anadrol by Revolution Medical Center in Phoenix several years ago; further Schexnider knew former bodybuilder Craig Titus who is awaiting trial on murder charges.
