It seems steroid abuse is going on in every corner of our society. As I've noted in a couple of previous postings, even our law enforcement personnel are not immune from the desire to be bigger, stronger and faster through the use of illegal anabolic steroids.
Here is a story from today's NY Post. This article mentions the fact that a number of supplements are spiked with steroids. And that organized crime is involved in the steroid business.
Don
No group is exempt from being involved with steroids. We've heard a number of stories from around the country about the involvement of various policemen in the sale, distribution and use of anabolic steroids. Here's one of those stories - this story hit the papers this morning.
Don
The three Georgia police officers caught for alleged steroid use were reportedly manufacturing it in their homes, according to the official internal investigation report.
The report, provided for review by the Cedartown Police Department after it became public record, confirms what Polk County Police Chief Kenny Dodd and Cedartown Assistant Police Chief Jamie Newsome stated publicly about the incident involving two county officers and one city officer.
The investigation into off-duty activities of the officers began Sept. 2. That’s when one of the officer’s wives began suspecting her husband was cheating on her. She called Dodd and told him that, adding that he was acting strangely and also that she had been in the house when the drugs were manufactured with the other officer. The woman felt the drugs were the source of most of their problems.
Police went to the home of one officer while he wasn’t there and obtained three vials of a yellow liquid substance called finaplix. Finaplex is a steroid used to speed up growth and bulk of feedlot heifers, the report said.
Dodd began interviewing Bates and Garrett. Bates said he ordered a kit off a website and used Garrett’s credit card to order it because he didn’t have money at the time.
He said he and Garrett made the steroid together. He said he used four of five shots and two shots of injected testosterone.
... action is likely by the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council. Dodd said the results of the two investigations have been forwarded to the POST Council. The Council may revoke the certification of these officers, place them on probation (suspended certification) or decide to take no further action against them.
Read More >>
The use of anabolic steroids in sports continues to be in the headlines. Today, it's boxing. And, it's in reference to one of their biggest of fights - the upcoming welterweight championship bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquaio.
Don
Superstition or Steroids: Is Manny Pacquiao – Floyd Mayweather JR being Scrapped?
By Geno McGahee-December 23, 2009
Manny Pacquiao, the welterweight champion of the world has amazed people with his strength and power. He has packed on muscle to conquer other weight divisions and seems superhuman to most that watch him in the ring, including Floyd Mayweather, JR. Today, we learned that Manny Pacquiao has refused blood testing 30 days prior to the fight, stating that he had “difficulty taking blood” that close to the fight. Manny agreed to have his blood tested but not that close to the event.
This is a mega fight with a lot of money to be made and like any other business deal of this magnitude; you are going to have bumps in the road. Up until now, the bumps in the road were minor, all things considered, but this allegation of steroid use could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Pacquiao is not the only fighter accused of this. Larry Holmes once accused Evander Holyfield of using steroids, a charge that was never verified. James “Lights Out” Toney, after defeating WBA Heavyweight Champion John Ruiz and capturing the gold, tested positive for steroids. He would deny the charge but later quietly refuse another drug test. He would test positive again and be banned from the sport for a brief period of time.
Shane Mosley was buried in controversy surrounding steroid use. In 2003, he took on Oscar De La Hoya in a rematch and won on the cards, but it would later come out that he was on what is referred to as “the clear,” a designer performance enhancing drug. Mosley would deny knowingly taking this, but others have come out to refute his claims. His bout with Antonio Margarito, and Margarito’s loaded gloves made the public forget about Mosley and the steroid abuse, but it should be noted that he was accused and then proceeded to swear under oath that he injected himself with them prior to the bout with Oscar De La Hoya.
Roy Jones, JR., has been accused, Tommy Morrison has come out and admitted that he used steroids, which may have explained his freakish strength and power. It is something that boxing and other sports take very seriously. Baseball was plagued by a steroid scandal and many dismiss the current breaking of records due to the drugs being used to achieve these goals.
Read More >>
Report: Doctor being investigated in PED probeNEW YORK — A Canadian doctor who has treated golfer Tiger Woods, swimmer Dara Torres and NFL players is suspected of providing athletes with performance-enhancing drugs, according to a newspaper report.
The New York Times reported on its Web site Monday night that Dr. Anthony Galea was found with human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, in his bag at the U.S.-Canada border in late September. He was arrested Oct. 15 in Toronto by Canadian police.
Using, selling or importing Actovegin is illegal in the United States.
The FBI has opened an investigation based in part on medical records found on Galea's computer relating to several professional athletes, people briefed on the inquiry told the Times on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a continuing investigation.
The anonymous sources did not disclose the names of the athletes, and Galea told the newspaper "it would be impossible" for investigators to have found material linking his athletes to performance-enhancing drugs.
According to the newspaper, Galea has developed a blood-spinning technique — platelet-rich plasma therapy — to help speed post-surgery recovery.
Galea visited Woods' home in Florida at least four times in February and March, the newspaper reported, to provide that platelet therapy after his agents were concerned by his slow recovery from June 2008 knee surgery.
Read More >>
We are regularly asked where our kids get their hands on steriods. The answer is scary: steroids are exceptionally easy for kids to obtain. They are sold at virtually every public gym in the US, anywhere the "big guys" are working out. And, they are available over the Internet. My son Taylor was buying his steroids from a young punk at the YMCA!
Occasionally, as story like this comes across the wire. A story of a coach or trainer supplying their athletes with steroids. Thank goodness this is the exception to the rule.
Don
Mom Says H.S. Coach Gave Kid Steroids
CROSSVILLE, Tenn. (CN) - A high school football coach sold a boy steroids without telling him what the drug was, and then conspired with school administrators to keep the drug deal a secret, the student's mother claims in Cumberland County Court.
Tammy Butler says Stone Memorial High School assistant football coach Jim Wilson gave her son steroids after the season ended in the boy's junior year. She says her 17-year-old boy asked about over-the-counter supplements and Wilson offered him pills he referred to as "supplements."
Butler says she paid for the drugs with a $140 check made out to Wilson, believing she was buying supplements to help her son.
"Unbeknownst to Benjamin Dodd or his mother the 'supplements' were actually illegal steroids," the complaint states. "Neither Benjamin Dodd or Tammy Butler knew they were obtaining or paying for anabolic steroids. Had they known, Benjamin Dodd would not have accepted or taken them. Tammy Butler certainly would not have paid for them. ... It is believed other young men on the football team were approached about taking steroids."
After taking the pills, Benjamin Dodd ended up at the Crossville Medical Center, suffering from headaches, chest pains and violent mood swings, his mom says.
In meeting arranged by the school's resource officer, who found Dodd with pills at school, Wilson admitted to the officer, the assistant principal and principal that the pills he gave Dodd were steroids, according to the complaint.
The mom claims that the principal, Janet Booker, "encouraged" her son "not to discuss the matter out of fear of media attention. Moreover, Benjamin Dodd asked if he could still play football and was advised by defendant [Scott] Maddox [the assistant principal] he may not be able to remain on the football team. The young man inferred that his silence was required to continue to play football," according to the complaint.
But as the boy's symptoms persisted, he finally told his mother about the drugs and the meeting, she says.
She says the official and the high school endangered her son, whom she continues to take to Vanderbilt Neurology Clinic for treatment.
She demands punitive damages for governmental tort and negligence. She is represented by Randy Chaffin and Michael Giaimo of Cookeville, Tenn.
Maxey to advise on conditioning, fitness
Newly named coordinator spent seven seasons with IndiansBy Rhett Bollinger / MLB.com
12/17/09 4:44 PM EST
Tim Maxey was named Major League Baseball's Joint Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced on Thursday.
Maxey will focus on providing guidance to and identifying best practices for clubs and players on issues involving conditioning, fitness, nutrition and other related subjects in this newly created position.
Maxey has plenty of experience in the field as he just completed his seventh season as the strength and conditioning coach for the Indians in 2009, and prior to working with the Indians, he worked in the Royals organization from 1998 to 2002.
As part of his new position, Maxey visit with every team during Spring Training to discuss fitness practices and conditioning. He will also be available to all Major League clubs during the season for all areas relating to strength and conditioning, including the development of educational programs and assisting with the establishment of industry-wide initiatives.
He also has experience working on a larger scale with baseball, as he has served MLB and the MLBPA on its Strength and Conditioning Advisory Board and has been an advisor to the Taylor Hooton Foundation, which raises awareness about the dangers of steroid abuse.
Maxey is a National Strength and Conditioning Association-Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and a Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach. The Ohio native is a graduate of Shawnee State University and holds a Master's Degree in physical education from The Ohio State University.
A few months back I was hanging out with a friend on a Saturday afternoon. My friend is a senior in high school. We began talking about his football team and his future in football. As the conversation went on he began to tell me how he was lifting in the off-season, and how he met this guy at his gym. This man knew who he was from seeing his pictures in the local newspapers. He told him that he knew a way to help him put on extra muscle fast.
My friend was very intrigued by the idea of coming back the following season in a lot better shape. So he decided to try this guy's method. It turns out that his method was to use human growth hormones, commonly known as HGH.
When he told me this I was in complete shock. It turns out that he had been taking HGH for the previous three months. I was even more shocked when he told me that he had told a few of his friends on the team, and they began using also. I immediately thought of the talk Donald had given me at a baseball camp I attended over the previous summer.
So I took my friend to the computer and showed him the Taylor Hooton Foundation website. I showed him the story about Taylor, the story of other kids, and the facts about steroid use. After seeing this he was in complete shock. He knew steroids were bad for you, but didn't realize that so many athletes his age had died as a result of abusing substances such as the one he was using. We continued to talk about it for about an hour.
After that day he told his teammates what I had told him, and showed them the site as well. From that day on he, and his teammates, never used HGH again.
I would like to thank Donald and the rest of the member of the Taylor Hooton Foundation for all the great work they are doing. If it had not been for the talk I received from the foundation, I would not have been able to help my friend, and God only knows what may have happened to him.
Thank you again THF for helping me save my friend.
Eric
Experts agree that anabolic steroids damage virtually every organ in the body. Recent studies show that the kidneys are on set of organs that come under particularly harmful attack.
Don
Anabolic steroids may help athletes gain muscle mass and strength, but this bulking up comes at the risk of serious kidney damage, according to research published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. The findings indicate that the habitual use of anabolic steroids has potential harmful effects on the kidneys that were not previously recognized.
“Anabolic steroid abuse is prevalent among both amateur and professional athletes. While these drugs are known to cause endocrine and liver dysfunction, until now their effects on the kidneys have not been appreciated,” says Vivette D’Agati, M.D., the Columbia University Medical Center researcher and practicing physician who led the study. Dr. D’Agati and her colleagues recently conducted the study, the first of its kind to identify kidney disease following long-term abuse of anabolic steroids.
The investigators studied a group of 10 bodybuilders who took anabolic steroids for years. All developed protein leakage into the urine and severe reductions in kidney function. Kidney biopsies revealed that the bodybuilders had developed a condition called “focal segmental glomerulosclerosis,” a type of scarring within the kidneys. This disease typically occurs when the kidneys are overworked. The kidney damage in the bodybuilders has similarities to that seen in morbidly obese patients, but appears to be even more severe.When the bodybuilders discontinued steroid use, their kidney abnormalities improved, with the exception of one individual with advanced kidney disease who developed end-stage kidney failure requiring dialysis. The single patient who resumed steroid abuse developed a severe clinical relapse.
The researchers propose that extreme increases in muscle mass drive the kidneys to increase their filtration load, placing harmful levels of stress on these organs. Because the kidney injury following steroid abuse is more severe clinically and pathologically than that seen in morbidly obese patients with even higher body mass indices, it is also likely that anabolic steroids have direct toxic effects on the glomeruli, whose cells bear receptors for these agents.
Aside from increased lean body mass, the cohort of bodybuilders had additional factors that could exert stress on the glomeruli, the million capillary sieves per kidney required for the ultrafiltration of plasma to form urine.
Ingesting massive amounts of protein and other supplements to bulk up, a practice common among heavy weightlifters, appears to cause an increase in renal blood flow and glomerular filtration rate by a variety of mechanisms. While this is an appropriate adaptive response to the increase in nitrogenous waste that is the byproduct of protein metabolism, chronic hyperfiltration from a high-protein diet may accelerate progression to glomerulosclerosis.
Six of the 10 patients also had elevated blood pressure or a history of hypertension at the time of renal biopsy. Systemic hypertension as well as the extreme episodic elevations in blood pressure typically experienced during heavy weight lifting also may contribute to kidney injury.
Because the major laboratory test that measures kidney function, the serum creatinine level, is influenced by the amount of muscle mass a patient has, kidney dysfunction can be difficult to identify in highly muscular athletes.
“Mild increases in creatinine may be overlooked as a normal physiologic response to increased lean body mass. Therefore, more sensitive tests to measure renal function and urinary protein are needed to detect the early stages of kidney disease in this population,” Dr. D’Agati said. “Because young athletes appear healthy and so few admit to use of anabolic steroids, this condition is likely to be under-recognized without more widespread screening of individuals at risk,” she added. "What looks healthy on the outside may be causing silent, progressive injury to the kidneys."
Source: http://www.healthcanal.com/life-style-fitness/4278.html
This saga goes on and on and on. The junk that is being sold to our kids in the gyms and over the Internet are rarely what they are advertised to be. That is, even if the buyer has convinced themselves that it's okay to purchase and use illegal anabolic steroids, there is NO GUARANTEE that what is being purchased is anything similar to what the user "thinks" they are purchasing!
Here is another article published on the ABC News web site this week that speaks to what is really being sold on the streets of the US.
Don
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The risks of anabolic steroids - used by some athletes to build muscle mass - are by now well-documented. But it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that steroids bought illegally through "underground labs" and over the internet generally aren't what their labels say they are, researchers reported yesterday at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry's annual meeting in Los Angeles.
Steroid users often complain that the drugs they had bought - often at significant expense - don't work, or have serious side effects. "Actual data regarding the composition of steroids obtained on the black market are scarce," however, presenter Dr. D. Zach Smith, of Boston Medical Center, told Reuters Health by email.
"Many labs in the US refuse to analyze suspected steroids," he continued, "so users are not able to determine with any degree of certainty if the steroids they are using are labeled or dosed correctly."
Smith and his colleagues looked at 217 studies that had analyzed the chemical makeup of illegally obtained anabolic steroids.
The researchers found that almost a third - 30 percent -- of samples others had analyzed did not contain any of the drugs listed on their labels.
There is also "more evidence accumulating that the likelihood of having a bad reaction with severe psychiatric symptoms including mania, hostility, or aggression, is linked to higher dosages," he said.One in five of the samples was contaminated with heavy metals such as tin, lead, and arsenic. Such metals can have toxic effects on the nervous and digestive systems, as well as the muscles.
Would steroid users "be willing to risk serious legal consequences and prosecution for a steroid either so underdosed as to be worthless, or contaminated with heavy metals?" asked Smith. "These questions deserve to be asked, and as clinicians we owe our patients an informed and fully accurate discussion."
Copyright 2009 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
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Don has become the leading national spokesman on the issue of appearance and performance enhancing drug use by our nation's youth.
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