Steroid dealers use ruse to sell wares on eBay

Federal crackdown
He said that in fiscal 2004, postal inspectors made 127 arrests for mailing steroids and had seized 105,948 units; one unit is equivalent to 50 tablets or a 10cc vial of injectable steroids. Over the same period, he said, the service made 183 arrests involving the shipping of illegal drugs purchased via the Internet.

But he said that agency investigators were “not aware of any illegal steroids being sold on eBay,” and praised the site’s security team for its efforts to root out illegal activity.

The Bush administration made a crackdown on the illegal sale of prescription drugs, including controlled substances illegally mailed into the United States, a cornerstone of its drug control strategy unveiled last spring.

Many experts on steroid abuse applaud the stepped-up enforcement, which they say is necessary to allow states and federal government to regain the ability to regulate the sale of drugs to their citizens.

“We remain concerned about how accessible prescription drugs are via the Internet and want to ensure that proper controls are put in place,” said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the NABP, which represents state boards that regulate land-based pharmacies.

Disagreement on success of law
But some critics say that the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990, which added steroids to the list of federally controlled substances, has been a failure.

“I don’t think it’s been successful at all, unfortunately,” said Brian Grasso, a physical trainer in Chicago who campaigns against steroid use by children. “Steroids use has been increasing exponentially among young people over the last 10 years.”

Others who support the tough laws, like Donald Hooten Sr., whose 16-year-old son, Taylor, committed suicide after taking steroids, said enforcement efforts aimed at average steroid users are undermined when professional athletes like baseball player Jason Giambi suffer no repercussions when they admit to using them.

“I’m hoping that’s going to have an impact,” Hooten, who runs the Taylor Hooten Foundation to educate young people to the health risks of steroids, said of recent revelations about steroid use in baseball. “At least somebody got caught, but there’s no indication yet that there’s going to be any consequences.”

Other critics say that tough laws that lump steroids in with addictive narcotics have unnecessarily created a new class of criminals by prohibiting doctors from prescribing steroids to adults for body-enhancement purposes.

“In my experience, the majority of people using anabolic steroids without a prescription are not teenagers and are not competitive athletes but are mature, healthy adult males seeking cosmetic improvements, namely a leaner, more muscular body,” said Collins. Recent studies show that steroids can be used safely under a doctor’s supervision, he said, noting that they already are used to treat ailments like AIDS wasting.

A legitimate last resort?
While he is not subject to U.S. jurisprudence, British fitness trainer Mick Hart, who advocates the use of steroids as a last resort for serious bodybuilders and adults who need a little help creating a chiseled physique, also said that strict anti-steroids laws are misguided.

“Steroids should be the last thing you should do,” the author of “The Layman’s Guide to Anabolic Steroids” said from his home-gym complex in the English countryside. “You have to have basically used up all options.”

Such laws give rise to black market sales that create risks well beyond the known side-effects of steroids because the purchaser has no idea what he or she is getting, said Hart, adding that anyone who would buy steroids on eBay is, in his estimation, “a nut ball.”

“We all have our ways of getting a bit of gear,” he said, using a slang term for steroids, “but buying it on eBay would be the absolute dogs’ bollocks last thing you should do.”

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