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tray renfro Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 315) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:03 PM
  
NewsBank InfoWeb NewsBank NewsFile Collection Atlanta Journal and the Atlanta Constitution, The (GA), SEPTEMBER 28, 1993, p.D/01. STEROIDS: RISKIER THAN EVER Drugs easy to buy south of the border, no questions asked Edition: The Atlanta Constitution The Atlanta Journal Section: SPORTS; STAFF Author:FISH, MIKE Topics: substance abuse steroids black markets Mexico: Tijuana California: San Diego Estimated printed pages:6 Article Text: Part three of a four-part series, "Steroids: Riskier Than Ever." An estimated 1 million Americans, half of them adolescents, have used steroids, according to this month's Journal of the American Medical Association. More black-market products are smuggled across the border here than anywhere else. By some accounts, the Mexican government is trying to prevent pharmacies from selling to Americans without prescription. Staff writer Mike Fish and staff photographer Nick Arroyo traveled to Tijuana and Ensenada to see just how easy steroids are to obtain. By Mike Fish STAFF WRITER Tijuana, Mexico - This border town may be just a few miles south of San Diego, but the 30-minute ride is a journey into another world. The poverty and the hard-sell smack you in the face. Hucksters attempt to flag you into a succession of auto body shops on the main drag into downtown, a telltale message about the reckless drivers. Lead-burning taxis dominate the roadways, thickening the air. The streets along Centro, the main tourist area, are littered with vendors selling an endless array of fake gold jewelry, leather belts and ceramic figurines [Bart Simpson is a favorite]. Obviously, the main industry is tourism. The targets are adventure-seeking sailors and Marines on leave from bases around San Diego and teenagers looking for a haunt where their juvenile antics are tolerated. "Tijuana is a real swamp," says Tom Isbell, a U.S. Customs supervisor. "It is the worst of both cultures, ours and theirs. Everything in Mexico is for sale - people, everything." Even anabolic steroids, the muscle-building drugs used by athletes ranging from high school football players to world-class Olympians, as well as by non-athletes who just want to look good. The difference from most of the other products being peddled is that steroids, although legal here, are illegal in the U.S. without a prescription. On a recent Sunday morning, photographer/translator Nick Arroyo and I drove our rented Oldsmobile Cutlass [with extra Mexican insurance] across the border in search of drugs - the ones known among users as 'roids or juice. With about $500 in our pockets, we were eager to see how difficult - or easy - it was to obtain such substances as Testosterone Cypionate, Primoteston Depot, the new hot bodybuilding drug Clenbuterol and Winstrol-V, which brought down Ben Johnson at the 1988 Olympics. An estimated 1 million Americans, half of them adolescents, have used steroids, according to this month's Journal of the American Medical Association. More black-market products are smuggled across the border here than anywhere else. By some accounts, the Mexican government is trying to prevent pharmacies from selling to Americans without prescriptions. We came to find out for ourselves. Of course, we didn't intend our mission to conclude with a five-year sentence in federal prison. So, we arranged to turn over our stash at the border to U.S. Customs officials and for the steroids to be analyzed at a Customs lab in Terminal Island, Calif. The first stop was Farmacia Drug Store de Tijuana. Looking every bit a tourist in khaki shorts, Ithaca College football T-shirt and Notre Dame cap, I was promptly greeted at the counter by a young man wearing a lab coat. "Do you sell Winstrol-V?" I asked. "Yes, we have it," he said, disappearing into a backroom. He returned with a handful of injectibles and tablets. The Winstrol-V was in a box with shabby labeling, which made me wonder if the product was counterfeit. So, I passed on the Winstol-V and looked at the rest of his stock. After negotiating on price, I purchased a 200-milligram vial of Testosterone Cypionate for $19 and a box of 20 Clenbuterol tablets -an anti-asthmatic agent designed to treat respiratory problems in horses - for $20.36. I was never asked for a doctor's prescription. Though the pharmacist refused to provide his name or be interviewed after I identified myself as a reporter, it was apparent this assignment would be easier than I imagined. We moved on to another tiny pharmacy - one of an estimated 46 on a five-block route. At the Farmacia D'Lux, we were met by manager Jorge Sandoval. Hearing of our interest in anibolicos, he reached under the counter and brought out some samples. The prices seemed high. Nearby, a woman with two young children negotiated on a price for a substantial amount of antibiotics. [Tijiana also is a popular source for inexpensive medicinal drugs, many of which have not been approved in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration.] She paid $180 and left in a beige motor home with California plates. "Is a prescription needed for steroids?" I asked Sandoval. "Sell it, no problem," he answered. That was the response I heard repeatedly in Tijuana and Ensenada, a port town 75 miles south that we visited for another perspective after hearing that shoppers descend there because of lower prices and fewer counterfeits. Of all the stores we entered, only at the Farmacia Los Arcos in Ensenada was a prescription asked for. The real test came at Farmacia America in Tijuana. A uniformed policeman stood inside half-watching a TV soccer match as we bought two ampules of human growth hormone, a rare cousin to steroids that has become popular because it is difficult to detect in testing. The HGH, manufactured in Florence, Italy, went for $70. "Every time we sell, we have to mark down the doctor who prescribed," griped clerk Hector Trujillo. The lab analysis would reveal we'd been bamboozled. The HGH contained no performance-enhancing properties. Trujillo didn't ask for a prescription. After I identified myself as a reporter, he said, "I give you discount." The cop nodded as we left. Maybe Farmacia Belen would be more stringent, given that it adjoined the Hospital Belen. Not so. In fact, here we found the best bargains in town, though lab tests would reveal we'd again been sold a counterfeit product [water] - this time by a hospital pharmacist. I bought the 50-milligram bottle of Winstrol-V, which went for as high as $125 in other stores, for $65. By now, I was frustrated that we hadn't come across some bodybuilders. Most clerks said they serve an average of only about 10 steroid customers a week, but that a single purchase can exceed $1,000. "Some guys come every couple months - same guys," said Mario Solis, a clerk at Farmacia Tip's. "Big guys, 180 pounds and more. Americans. Canadians. Very tall guys." At Farmacia Mexicana, Juan Gonzales said he averages between eight and 10 steroid customers a day. I bought a German-made version of Dianabol (100 tablets) for $35. "I see bodybuilders, big ones," Gonzales said, comically striking a pose for Nick, our photographer. "Sometimes short, but real strong. Big muscles." Our final tab: $392.86 worth of performance-enhancing drugs in 12 separate buys, enough contents to fill a brown grocery bag. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents estimate the drugs would have a street value three times that much in Atlanta. As we approached the border early Monday evening, cars were lined up 12 to 15 deep. All 24 inspection booths were open. After about a 10-minute wait, it was our turn. "Are you a U.S. citizen?" asked the border guard. "Yes." "Go ahead." Whoa, there. I told the guard of my pre-arranged deal to turn over the steroids to a Customs contact. The shift supervisor was hurriedy called out and we were led to an inspection area, where the steroids were turned over and sent off to be analyzed. With the border fading in our rearview mirror, we wondered if we shouldn't have tried to pull one over on Customs. We could have motored into San Diego with a bagful of steroids. Nah, navigating the Mexican roadways was exhilarating enough. COMING WEDNESDAY Sports world fears athletes and drugs is China's new combination for success. Caption: Chart: `Shopping' Product analysis was done by the U.S. Customs lab in Terminal Island, Calif. Of 12 samples tested for the presence of performance-enhancing drugs: 6 tested positive 3 tested negative 3 contained only traces Note: Of the nine that showed steroid components, five were mislabeled/counterfeit TIJUANA Testosteron Cypionate 10 mg/ml (injectibles); $19 -Lab analysis: Contains nandrolone decanoate, an anabolic steroid; mislabeled (should contain testosterone cypionate) -Sold: Farmacia Drug Store de Tijuana; manufacuted in U.S. Winstrol-V (Stanozolol) 30 mg/ml; $65 -Lab analysis: no anabolic steroids; contains water -Sold: Farmacia Belen; manufactured in Canada Dianabol (Methandrostenolone) 5 mg/ml 100 tablets; $35 - Lab analysis: Contains methyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid; mislabeled (it should contain methandrostenolone) -Sold: Farmacia Mexicana; manufactured in West Germany Anavar (Oxandrolone) 100 tiny white tablets; $50 -Lab analysis: No steroids -Sold: Le Drug Store Tijuana; manufactured in Mexico Grocormon (synthetic human growth hormone) 20 mg/ml; $70 -Lab analysis: Negative results for anabolic steroids; contains water -Sold: Farmacia American; manufactured in Italy Dianabol 25 mg/ml (injectibles); $25 -Lab analysis: Contains a very small amount of methandrostenolone, ananabolic steroid (correctly labeled) -Sold: Farnmacia Botanica D' Lux; manufactured in Panama Spriopent (Clenbuterol) 20 tablets; $20.36 -Lab analysis: Contains testosterone enanthate, an anabolic steroid; mislabeled (it is not a steroid, but an anti-asthma medication that athletes believe has steroid-like effects) -Sold: Farmacia Drug Store de Tijuana; manufactured in Mexico Sten (testosterone) 2 vils (injectibles); $10.50 -Lab analysis: contains a very small amount of testosterone propionate, an anabolic steroid (correctly labeled) -Sold: Farmacia Botanica D' Lux; manufactured in Mexico ENSENADA Deca-Durabolin 50 mg/ml (injectibles); $13 -Lab analysis: Contains a small amount of nandrolone decanoate, an anabolic steroid (correctly labeled) -Sold: Farmacia Hidalgo; manufactured in Mexico Primobolan Depot 50 mg/ml (injectibles); $29 -Lab analysis: Contains testosterone enanthate, an anabolic steroid; mislabeled (should contain methenolone) -Sold: Farmacia California 2; manufactured in Mexico Proviron (Mesterolona) 25 mg/ml, 16 tablets; $20 -Lab analysis: Contains mesterolone, an anabolic steroid (correctly labeled) -Sold: Boticas Hidalgo; manufactured in Mexico Primoteston Depot (testosterona) 250 mg (injectibles); $15 -Lab analysis: Contains testosterone enanthate, an anabolic steroid; mislabeled (should be just testosterone) -Sold: Boticas Hidalgo; manufactured in Mexico Color photo: At the Farmacia Belen in Tijuana, adjoining a hospital, what seemed to be a steroid "bargain" turned out to be just water./ NICK ARROYO / Staff Photo: Boxes labeled Spiropent next to Stresstabs on a pharmacist's shelf in Tijuana, Mexico. Copyright (c) 1993 The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution Record Number: 008030D763DDB3186C10A ------------------ IP: Logged |
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2Thick Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 718) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:13 PM
I knew that I didn't like Mexican products! I cannot believe that people get ripped off that badly!!! I would definitely avoid Tijuana Jon ------------------ IP: Logged |
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chestyII Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 335) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:13 PM
This reporter is stupid, he wouldn't know how to tell a fake from a real in the first place. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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Big Brother Val Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 369) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:15 PM
Not much to say to that. Thanks for posting it. IP: Logged |
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DianaBallBusta Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 382) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:20 PM
Interesting stuff man. Good article. ------------------ IP: Logged |
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coolhandluke Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 318) |
posted March 16, 2000 07:24 PM
is this for real? why would anyone put test enanthate into counterfeit clen???? Did this guy just take his $$$ for the mexico article and hit a bar and scribbled something when he was ina drunken stupor??? IP: Logged |
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tray renfro Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 315) |
posted March 17, 2000 01:14 AM
bump! ------------------ IP: Logged |
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big_guy1 Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 459) |
posted March 17, 2000 01:23 AM
"More black-market products are smuggled across the border here than anywhere else" that is because most stuff is legal everywhere else....so legalize roid and less will be smuggled..=) anyways..god article.. big-guy IP: Logged |
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bigtbone Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 16) |
posted March 17, 2000 01:29 AM
enanthate in clen? I'm not buying it. Sure there are lots of fakes in TJ but you can spot them. Don't believe everything you read. That author could and probably did make half that shit up just to help prevent americans from going to mexico to buy gear for fear of getting god knows what. Reading this article probably kept alot of guys from going and smuggling drugs back so It probably served its purpose. --bigtbone IP: Logged |
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100acrewoods Amateur Bodybuilder (Total posts: 81) |
posted March 17, 2000 01:53 AM
Interesting article, but based on the publish date, et. al. 1993, that makes it seven years old. A lot of things happen in seven years. Think about it. Lee Haney is no longer Mr Olympia, and Kevin Levrone had just turned pro. Shawn Ray still had a chance. IP: Logged |
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the truth Pro Bodybuilder (Total posts: 167) |
posted March 17, 2000 03:15 AM
The lab analyses seem made up to me. Aside from the "enanthate" in the clen, I laughed at the almost indignant phrasing of the Primoteston analysis "contained testosterone enanthate; should have been just testosterone". Yeah, there are counterfeits down there and they may have been a liitle more proliferent in 1993, but this guy just got an easy paycheck. He may have gone to Mexico, but he definitely didn't submit his samples to a lab for analysis (he's probably huge now). IP: Logged |
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