Australia: The Anabolic Steroid Users Worst Nightmare

Many people think that the United States has the harshest anti-steroid laws and policies in the world.  But there are a growing number of juicers who think that Australia’s brutal stance on steroids far surpasses anything set forth by the United States.

People who live in America have many things to be thankful for.  For one, they have the right to speak their mind on stuff like political matters which is something that could get a person shot in other countries.  Another advantage Americans enjoy is the economy since it is one of the richest in the world and gives US citizens a high standard of living.  United States residents also have the luxury of living in a country that isn’t stricken by civil wars and poverty.

But it’s not all paradise in America since there are many freedoms which we cannot enjoy as well.  And one of the main things that sticks out in my mind is the fact that we have some of the strictest drug laws in the world – especially when it comes to anabolic steroids!

I find it amazing that a person who commits a violent crime can get a lesser sentence than someone who gets caught with a certain amount of steroids.  And what’s with people not being able to use roids for the cosmetic purpose of building muscle?  Is it an absolute evil to use the ultimate form of muscle enhancement?  No matter what I think about the matter, things don’t seem to be getting any better in the US.  I suppose they could get worse though... Like in Australia worse!

That’s because Australia may be the one place where juicers can claim to be more persecuted than American steroid users.  In fact, the government of Australia even goes so far as to violate innocent people’s privacy to catch athletes who use roids.  A big controversy arose in the Land Down Under when the Australian Anti-Doping Authority went through Medicare prescription records to try and catch athletes who were juicing.

This was a total violation of doctor-patient confidentiality code and was simply shrugged off by ASADA after it was reported what they were doing.  When asked about their recent activities, the ASADA Chairman – Richard Ings – simply said, “An athlete who is getting anabolic steroids or other performance enhancing substances by prescription is committing sporting fraud unless they have an approved therapeutic reason for it.”

But the insanity doesn’t end here since Australia has also been trying to find ways to predict steroid usage in certain athletes by scoping for illegal steroid intelligence and carrying out targeted operations.  In addition to this, the Australian Anti-Doping Authority has also stepped up its efforts to collect more frozen urine samples so they bust athletes years down the road when nobody cares.

But it’s not just athletes that the government is after and ASADA isn’t the only ones trying to catch juicers.

Australian Customs has also gotten into the act and they’re doing their best to harass people coming into, and leaving, their country.  The Australian Customs Department has already seized hundreds of packages containing roids with no end in sight.  And the worst part is that these steroid search and seizures have absolutely nothing to do with keeping sports clean.

Richard Janezcko, the Australian Customs investigative manager, said so himself when he stated, “People who want to look good or are involved in all sorts of sporting activities like bodybuilding or weightlifting might do it.  A lot of people in gyms use it.”

Amazing! All of these searches and seizures being carried out so people can be prevented from trying to “look good”.

And it’s not only the commoners who are the targets of these Australian Customs agents as this was proved last year with the Sylvester Stallone debacle.  Upon landing in Sydney during his promotional tour for Rocky Balboa (sometimes called Rocky VI), Stallone was ambushed by Australian Customs when they held him and his entourage captive so they could search through the group’s luggage.  World headlines were made when they found 48 vials of the HGH Jintropin in his belongings.

Despite the fact that Stallone has a medical condition which allows him to take the HGH, he was still fined $9,870 for the “offense” – though he did avoid the maximum penalty of a $91,500 fine and five years in prison for bringing non-licensed GH into Australia.

Unfortunately, not everyone gets off with as light of a punishment as Stallone did.

Australia is just like the United States in that people can go to jail just for being in possession of a single pill.  Possess a sizeable amount?  You could be looking at an even larger amount of time spent in jail or even prison.  Some of the fines can exceed $100,000 too!

In the end, I’m not really sure which country is worse with regards to steroids – Australia or the United States.  It seems that Australia has really ramped up their efforts lately, but the US has been consistently bad throughout the years.  It’s really kind of a tossup at this point.
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Author: George Spellwin