LONDON CALLING/UK&Europe thread/all welcome

[talldutch]

For a starter an article form the Guardian, 13th of July. What do you think of it, anybody used Kigtropin?


Harry (not his real name), 27, a marketing executive from north London, is a keen sportsman and bodybuilder. He spent hours in the gym, and poring over health pages for muscle-boosting tips. Yet he grew frustrated when his muscle growth appeared to plateau. While many bodybuilders turn to steroids (some 250,000 people are thought to use them in the UK, as Raoul Moat apparently did), Harry was deterred by the side-effects, which can include mental health damage. Instead, like an increasing number of gym users, he turned to Kigtropin.

A brand name for synthetically produced human growth hormone , Kigtropin is used to replace the naturally produced hormones in the pituitary gland, which slow down as we leave our teens. It was once an expensive niche drug costing thousands of pounds a dose, but is now becoming more common in high street gyms across the UK. In 2007, Sylvester Stallone was ordered to pay £5,400 in fines and costs by a court in Australia for possession of growth hormone. This year, Tiger Woods's former doctor Anthony Galea was charged with possession of growth hormone and administering it to clients.

Now, thanks to cheap supplies available on the internet (mainly from China), Kigtropin has hit the mainstream. In Bristol, bosses at a branch of Fitness First had to install needle bins earlier this year because so many members were leaving syringes lying around. A spokesman for Fitness First said the gym did not tolerate the use of drugs and was "increasing monitoring procedures to identify any unacceptable or illegal behaviour".

But for Harry, the drug seemed the perfect solution."I have always wanted to be much bigger. I went to a sport-playing school and always felt smaller than the other guys. What I had heard about growth hormone was unbelievable. Being in a gym where people take it, you assume everyone is at it."

He began taking the hormone for 18 months in cycles – three months on it, one month off – and was thrilled by the results. "I can lift more, my muscles feel harder, I have increased energy and I don't have the paranoia or 'roid rage [the anger brought on by steroid abuse ] I might have had with steroids. I tore my achilles tendon playing rugby last year. The doctor said I would be out for nine months, but my tendon healed within three and I was back playing within four months. I think that had a lot to do with what I was taking."

Dr Michael Graham, senior lecturer in substance misuse at Newman University College, Birmingham, says: "Growth hormone has extremely therapeutic benefits. It is prescribed privately by Harley Street clinicians who assist in anti-ageing. But it also can enhance muscle growth and promote weight loss by preventing carbohydrate from being turned into fat.

"I have carried out a study which showed that human growth hormone increased muscle mass in steroid users whose muscle growth had flattened out. Also, it has been shown to increase cartilage growth and repair – there is no shadow of a doubt that users will have an increased healing rate."

Yet doctors warn that growth hormones are illegal without a licence – those found supplying them can face 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine. Even more worryingly, users of the hormone could be dicing with death. Nearly all of the Kigtropin entering this country is smuggled in or bought online with no control or guidance on how to take it. Mick Hart, author of the Layman's Guide to Steroids, says: "The danger is 99% will use it irresponsibly – taking way too much or not knowing how to inject it. Dealers want you to take as much as they can sell you. Cycles of hormone use used to be around eight weeks long and then some time off – now people are taking them solidly for two to three years."

Inexperienced syringe users can slash an artery and bleed to death, create blood clots, or hit a nerve and risk permanent paralysis. Long-term use can, according to Graham, lead to carpal tunnel syndrome (the compression of nerves in the wrists, which causes incessant tingling), raised blood sugar levels (which can trigger Type 2 diabetes), heart failure and – in excessive doses – gigantism, the disproportionate growth of body parts.

Users also have no guarantee of what they are buying, according to drug seizure expert Allen Morgan. "I have had cases where dealers didn't even know that they had been selling rubbish. From a law enforcement perspective it is a grey area, as police are brought up on a culture of going after street drugs and they simply have no grasp of how the bodybuilding drugs market works."

Hart says that supplies could also be tainted: "They are finding trace elements of metals in phials being shipped in from all over the place, as any wannabe dealer with a metal drum in places like China and Russia is attempting to make them on the cheap. That can be lethal."

However, for Harry and many others the lure of the physique of their dreams is too strong to give up: "I decided the results were worth any risk," he says.

[talldutch]

250000 users in the UK alone...where do they get the juice??????

[Ernst]

"Inexperienced syringe users can slash an artery and bleed to death."

That'd be a neat trick.

[sigman roid]

250000 users in the UK alone...where do they get the juice??????

They get it from me all of them.

[talldutch]

hmm I believe you

[talldutch]

British Government expert advisors are pressing officials to put a ban on online imports of anabolic steroids . The advisors’ worries stem from growing concerns about their indiscriminate usage by teenage boys and young men in order to improve their “body image”

A report by The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) palces improtance on this ban as the steroids sold online are often contaminated, out of date, or delivered with the wrong dosage instructions.

Further findings in the report also expressed the alarming fact that an estimated 50,000 people in the past year have used anabolic steroids for non-medical purposes, such as bodybuilding, the UK Guardian reported.

The ACMD’s chair, Professor Leslie Iversen, said steroids were now much too easily available: “If you search online you will see endless offers. The ACMD is the lone voice against this tide of promotion on the internet. We think [an import ban] would have a considerable dampening effect on demand. It may be difficult to enforce but it would act as a simple deterrent.”

“There is no question that the number using the drug for sporting reasons is now a minority. The real growth has come in young users who want to improve their body image.”

However, durg experts question the authenticity of total number of people, who had participated in the study. They say that most people would not come clean about their usage or consumption of drugs. Although, not many deaths, caused mainly due to liver damage, have been reported due to such consumption of anabolic steroids, nevertheless, it is something to worry about. When young people consume them, it may eventually affect their normal physicla growth and induce masculinising effects in women and children.

The ACMD says anabolic steroids should remain a class C illegal drug, which can be bought on prescription from a pharmacist. The drug advisory body says that it is “high-time” to classify it illegal, if an indiavidual makes or purchases such substances online from overseas websites. Yet, Personal possession, including bringing them into the country, will however remain legal as the authorities believe criminalising users would simply push the problem underground.

The UK Government on its part said that it “would review the recommendations” and “respond shortly”

There have several exchanges of statements in the past few weeks, over the decriminalizing of drugs and criticisms from scietific experts about the British drug policies.

[stack_it]

[talldutch]

together we stand

[talldutch]

SportsRSS

Related articles, background features and opinions about this topic.

* Print
* E-Mail
* Feedback

12/17/2010

Unfair Advantage
'The Doping Trade Is a Mafia, Pure and Simple'

Photo Gallery: 6 Photos
REUTERS

The illegal trade in performance-enhancing drugs and anabolic steroids is booming. In a SPIEGEL interview, Vienna-based investigator Andreas Holzer talks about their hidden dangers, growing use by amateur athletes and why the problem will only continue to worsen.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Holzer, in January 2009, a special commission headed by you began investigating doping networks. Since then, the success rates of Austrian winter athletes have dropped significantly. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, for example, they captured seven fewer medals than they did four years earlier…

Andreas Holzer: … and you see a connection between the two?

SPIEGEL: You don't?

Holzer: In one year's time, a small special commission cannot cripple doping structures that have been in place for a long time. But we did delve deeply into the material.

SPIEGEL: And what have you found?

Holzer: That the doping trade is a globally networked business comparable to the drug trade -- a mafia, pure and simple.

SPIEGEL: In October, your unit was involved in "Operation Pangea," a major raid in 45 countries that netted 76 suspects and illegal medications with a total market value of roughly $2.6 million (€2 million). Where does it all come from?

Holzer: Many compounds come from China, India or Pakistan, where production is cheap and no one gives any thought to the fact that the production process alone can be hazardous to your health. The active ingredients are sold by online suppliers -- often through illegal online pharmacies -- and are shipped via airmail.

SPIEGEL: Are there inspections of these shipments?

Holzer: There are. But, owing to the sheer volume of mail -- and the fact that drugs are disguised within ordinary-looking packages -- without any concrete leads, it's difficult to pick out any suspicious packages.

SPIEGEL: Where do the drugs finally end up?

Holzer: The dealers are often based in Europe -- and that's where the real business gets started. It isn't the manufacturers of the raw ingredients that are making the big profits: rather, it's the producers -- that is, the people who mix the substances in laboratories, fill the finished product into vials and capsules, label them and distribute them around the world.

SPIEGEL: How big are the profits?

Holzer: Average production costs for a package of anabolic steroids run around 50 cents; and then it's sold for €35 to €40. We arrested a dealer in Austria who had made about €2 million in four years' time. Even I am surprised by these kinds of figures. I spent a long time working as a narcotics investigator, which is why I can say that anyone who deals drugs today is exposed to far greater risks than used to be the case. The doping trade isn't just more lucrative; production is less costly and complicated, and shipping is very simple.

SPIEGEL: Stefan Matschiner, the former track and field athlete and sports manager, was recently convicted of trading in doping substances. The case attracted attention because Matschiner was also selling EPO, an endurance-enhancing hormone.

Holzer: I'm convinced that it wasn't an isolated case.

SPIEGEL: Is EPO also being shipped from Asia?

Holzer: In one of the cases we investigated, the dealer was being supplied by a nearby pharmacy. The pharmacist bought the material for €350 and resold it for €550. Other dealers obtained EPO by using forged prescriptions. It even occasionally happens that entire shipments of EPO are stolen from shipping containers and make their way onto the marketplace. That just goes to show how great the demand is.

SPIEGEL: The most outlandish concoctions are sold on the market, including testosterone creams and high-dose anabolic steroid pills. How are these kinds of thing manufactured?

Holzer: You shouldn't be imagining scenes involving doctors or chemists in white coats handling test tubs in a laboratory. In fact, it looks much more like the production of methamphetamines in meth labs, where the drugs are cooked up over a Bunsen burner. In (the southern Austrian state of) Carinthia, we discovered a laboratory in an apartment that included pure substances and a capsule-making machine. The machine is used to fill the active ingredient into tablet capsules or vials. The equipment is readily available, and the production process is simple. And there are no limits to creativity. For example, anabolic "blades" are the latest hit. They're wafers the size of a DIN-A4 piece of paper, onto which the agent -- usually anabolic steroids -- is sprayed. Consumers break off the pre-perforated dose segments and dissolve them on their tongues.

SPIEGEL: What is the quality of the drugs from these makeshift kitchens?

Holzer: Professional production isn't feasible in underground laboratories. No one guarantees sterility, cleanliness or quality. We have questioned athletes who had handball-sized abscesses on their arms that were caused by contaminated compounds. Convicted producers report that they occasionally put twice as much of the active agent into vials so as to guarantee the desired effect beyond the expiration date.

SPIEGEL: How do athletes and dealers of doping agents find each other?

Holzer: By word of mouth, in places such as health clubs, and on online forums. Professional athletes also look for dealers in these same ways. Indeed, only very few of them have a team physician who will take care of everything for them. As a rule, athletes keep an eye on the scene in the various forums and get tips from older athletes. Then they select a doping-agent dealer whom other athletes have already had good experiences with.

SPIEGEL: Where do the deals go down?

Holzer: I don't want to lump everything together, but the focus is on health clubs and shops where nutritional supplements are sold. In many of these shops, we have been able to seize bags full of anabolic steroids, growth hormones and counterfeit Viagra pills. They're simply kept under the counter.

SPIEGEL: Going shopping in a health club could be risky for a high-profile athlete. Are there other ways to get hold of the drugs?


more fearmongering from Germany

[talldutch]

Part 2: 'Those Who Want to Be Hip Get Testosterone Injections'

Holzer: Yes. We managed to arrest a doping dealer who traveled all over Austria for years, selling drugs out of the trunk of his car. Anyone who needed drugs just called his cell phone. The deliveries were then made at rest stops, in fast-food restaurants and in cafés. The man also sold his drugs in Germany.

SPIEGEL: Who are the buyers?

Holzer: Top athletes only represent a small slice of a dealer's customers. They make most of their money off recreational athletes. For example, during our investigation, we encountered amateur athletes who had invested about €7,000 in doping drugs to prepare for a marathon -- merely to move up from 1,024th place to 912th place. It's absurd.

SPIEGEL: At what age does the demand begin?

Holzer: The youngest athletes who are engaging in recreational sports and doping are 15 or 16. In my opinion, this has to do with the change in lifestyle. Nowadays, everything has to happen as quickly and easily as possible. In the past, smoking pot was the cool thing to do. But, these days, those who want to be hip get testosterone injections to build their muscles or take ephedrine to lose weight. There is an acute danger that, in a few years, addiction levels related to performance-enhancing drugs will catch up with those for conventional drugs.

SPIEGEL: What are the potential side effects associated with doping?

Holzer: The people affected have reported reduced sex drives, strokes and heart attacks. Some people with cancer attribute it to their addiction to doping drugs. Almost all the people who take these drugs suffer from severe depression, and some people have frequent outbursts of aggression. When this happens, the only remedy is another fix of the drug, which of course isn't prescribed by a doctor. It's a vicious cycle.

SPIEGEL: Austria enacted an anti-doping law three years ago. In Germany, politicians and associations have resisted such a step, arguing that existing laws against drugs are sufficient. Are they underestimating the problem?

Holzer: Fighting the doping business is still considered exotic. As its investigators, we are sometimes confronted with the accusation that there are more important problems to be dealt with. This may be true. But it is my belief that, in a few years -- and without coordinated countermeasures -- the trade in doping drugs and counterfeit prescription drugs will be just as big as the trade in heroin, cocaine and cannabis products.

SPIEGEL: What kinds of measures are needed?

Holzer: We need harmonized international laws that make international police and judicial cooperation possible. If we don't get these, in the long run, the battle will be pointless. One network that we uncovered extends from Austria all the way to California. We received a lot of support from our colleagues with the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). But this only worked because the Americans have good laws in this area.

SPIEGEL: Jeff Novitzki, the former special agent for the US Internal Revenue Service, became famous after his investigation led to the conviction of Marion Jones, the former world champion track and field athlete. Now Novitzki is investigating cycling star Lance Armstrong as an agent for the Food and Drug Administration. Do you also have your sights set on such prominent athletes?

Holzer: We aren't focusing on a specific famous athlete. I'm not interested in big names. We want to understand the system and stop the products.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Holzer, thank you for this interview.

[talldutch]

Gets me all the time. Its evil dangerous and whatever. But more an more people are using steroids and for a reason. They just wanna look good. And the older u get ( like me ) the more u think of using it. Its what Joan Rivers just said on tele, its not fun gettin old when u have the world at your feet and do what u u wanna do to feel free and feel young.
Anyway I think governments should legalize steroids so u can get proper stuff. The illigality of steroids here in the Uk and Europe in general puts me off only because u dont know if the stuff is not some sort of boiled dirty laundry waste.

In the meantime I keep all ears eyes and whatever peeled to any news about steroids. There one thing in the interview what is right; its just a very good feeling when you go to the gym and notice u look good!

[MACHINE5150]

ahh.. geeze.. another self righteous cop trying to demonize the AAS community.. I like how he/she staets that you grow addicted to steroids and get anger problems and the only way to subdue those is shoot up more steroids??? They are making it sound like Heroin.. what a pack of lies.

[talldutch]

I agree