Posts Tagged ‘human growth hormone’

Two officers of the St Helens police have admitted being part of a gang involved in supplying steroids.

St Helens CID detective DC Paul David Fletcher, 46, one of the officers, also admitted three offences of misconduct in a public office.

From Liverpoolecho.co.uk:

Fletcher, of Downall Green Road, Ashton, had previously denied all the charges and was due to stand trial on November 15, but he appeared at the crown court yesterday for a pre-trial hearing and changed his pleas.

He also admitted a total of six offences of being concerned in the supply of controlled drugs between December 4, 2010, and February 2, this year.

Five of the charges involved Fletcher being involved in supplying the drugs, including human growth hormone and testosterone to an undercover officers known only as “Neil”.

Terry Bridge, a fifth man in the dock, admitted having a total of 19 different drugs, including a variety of testosterone substances and diazepam.

Felony charges have been reinstated by a state appeals court against five operators of a former Florida pharmacy who were implicated in a network of steroid distribution.

The 3-2 decision by the midlevel Appellate Division of state Supreme Court has reversed the decision of Albany judge for disqualifying Albany County District Attorney David Soares from prosecuting the case, in part, as the defendants are suing him for alleged civil rights violations.

From Timesunion.com:

It marks the second time the criminal case against the former Orlando pharmacy’s operators has been revived by an appeals court. The former pharmacy’s operators were snared in what law enforcement officials said was a nationwide steroids distribution network that relied on doctors who signed prescriptions for patients they never met. A majority of the customers had no legitimate need for the drugs, which were used for bodybuilding and anti-aging purposes.

At least 17 people, including several physicians, have been convicted in the case. The investigation exposed illicit use of steroids and human growth hormone by professional athletes, celebrities and hundreds of others, including police officers. The case was cited in a report to Congress that analyzed steroid abuse in Major League Baseball, and it led to the suspension of professional athletes including NFL stars and pro wrestlers.

“We’re not going to make any comment on the decision and an appeal is under consideration,” said William J. Dreyer, an attorney for Robert and Naomi Loomis.

According to a new study published in The American Journal on Addictions, illicit use of HGH (human growth hormone) has become common among young American male weightlifters.

Illicit use of HGH in this population is often associated with polysubstance abuse involving both performance-enhancing and classical drugs, as per the study.

From Starglobaltribune.com:

Results found that 27 (12 percent) reported illicit use of HGH and/or its close relative, insulin-like growth factor-I. All of these 27 men had also used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), and 15 (56 percent) also reported current or past dependence on opioids, cocaine, and/or ecstasy.

These findings suggest that illicit HGH use is common, and is usually associated with abuse of both AAS and ordinary street drugs.

“The long-term risks of high-dose HGH use are little studied, but available evidence suggests that long-term high-dose HGH may have serious medical consequences, including cardiac, endocrine, and respiratory effects, as well as increased risk for certain cancers,” Brennan notes. “Our findings suggest that mounting illicit HGH abuse may represent a dangerous new form of drug abuse with potentially severe public health consequences.”

The researchers were led by Brian P. Brennan, MD, MSc, of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

A convicted steroids dealer who told NFL officials that he sold performance enhancing drugs to many players was found shot dead in his home.

David Jacobs was discovered dead during a welfare check from Plano Police.

From Espnstar.com:

Police spokesman Rick McDonald did not state whether the case was being treated as a double homicide or murder-suicide. Authorities also have not stated whether a weapon was found on the scene.

Jacobs met with NFL security officials two weeks ago and provided names of players to which he allegedly sold steroids.

Hank Hockeimer, Jacobs’ attorney, told the Dallas Morning News that Jacobs told the league about his knowledge of steroid and human growth hormone use by current and former NFL players.

Hockeimer told the newspaper, “David provided them with documents corroborating what he was telling them.”

According to a NFL official, the league will drug test for steroids on game days. The official said he expects the testing to begin with the first week of the season as agreed to under the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

The league will use the game-day testing only for performance-enhancers and not for recreational drugs like cocaine and marijuana, according to Adolpho Birch, the NFL’s senior vice president of law and labor policy.

From Torontosun.com:

The new 10-year CBA that was hammered out during the NFL’s more than four- month lockout includes blood testing for human growth hormone, the first such test in any of the country’s major sports.

Details are still being hashed out, but Birch said the program is all but finalized at this point.

“The framework of the testing procedures, I think both sides would agree, is largely agreed to and I don’t expect that there will be much more need to discuss those,” he said.

As for game-day testing, Birch said the NFL has avoided it in the past because of the logistics involved.

“But we have now developed a solution that will allow us to do game-day testing in a way that is not overly disruptive to the clubs and respects the game-day process and all of the things going on,” he said.

“This is primarily a competitive issue, so we do not contemplate utilizing it for the substances-of-abuse recreational drugs,” Birch said during a conference call. “But it is something that will involve any of the potential testing we do under the steroid policy.”

Adolpho Birch, who oversees the NFL’s drug-testing program, is confident that game-day testing that can take place before or after games would not be disruptive to teams.

Birch has provided a solution for a concern among players and coaches with the statement.

From NYtimes.com:

Birch said he did not believe H.G.H. is used by 10 to 20 percent of players, as some players have publicly guessed.

He declined to reveal if discussions with the players union had already begun to resolve the final details of growth hormone testing. But he played down concerns about the reliability of tests — concerns that players raised the day before the deal was completed last week — and he said that the N.F.L. hoped eventually to have a test that will expand the detection window for H.G.H.

Birch said game-day testing would be limited to performance enhancing drugs like steroids and human growth hormone, and would not include recreational drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine.

New Zealand sank to a new low by saying that some members of the Swiss Alinghi syndicate Sailing Team used performance enhancing drugs; the statement is aimed at ousting the Swiss from the America’s Cup

Argument was without formal substantiation and based on observations of a private investigator, former police officer, who had been hired to investigate the use, the opposition without formal proofs.

From Guardian.co.uk:

It alleged that members of the Swiss winch-grinding team had been seen entering the premises of the Men’s Health Clinic in the suburb of Remuera, and, according to staff members at the clinic, had received growth-hormone injections.

Despite the report, no formal complaint has been made and there is no suggestion that the allegations have any substance.

The drug alleged to have been injected is the somatropin recombinant human-growth hormone marketed under the trade name Saizen, It is a product of Serono, the pharmaceutical giant controlled by Ernesto Bertarelli, the head of the Alinghi syndicate.

Britain’s Bryan Willis, head of the International Jury for the Cup confirmed that he had been informed by Team New Zealand of the allegations, but that it had not been a formal complaint, but more in the mode of information, a style of notification not uncommon in the event when a syndicate believes another is in breach of the rules.

A spokesman said the Alinghi team was upset by the allegations after being questioned by the private detective hired by Team New Zealand.

A legistation urging for tighter monitoring of human growth hormone (HGH) amid growing evidence that the drug is widely abused has been unanimously approved by New Jersey Assembly committee.

Growth hormone deficiency affects one of every 100,000 American adults annually, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

From NJ.com:

“We will know whether it’s an individual patient doctor shopping or if it’s a physician who’s dealing,” Conaway told The Star-Ledger. “We’d be able to monitor both ends of the problem.”

The bill would add HGH to the list of drugs within the state’s prescription monitoring program. It follows a Star-Ledger series that revealed wide use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone among hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters in New Jersey.

The Star-Ledger found in most cases that the officers used their state-funded health benefits to foot the bill for substances, with the high cost of HGH running up a tab in the millions of dollars.

Health and Senior Services Committee chairman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington) said the bill will help in cracking down on abuse by both patients and physicians.

A 45-year-old physician collapsed recently in his Jersey City apartment to become the victim of heart failure. His news spread like junglefire among firefighting and police agencies and a majority of them called his Hudson County public safety complex within hours for confirming the news.

Detective Sgt. Ken Kolich, assigned to look into the death of the physician Joseph Colao, was disturbed to find out that news of his death became a topic of interest among the policemen despite him having no official ties with the police agency.

From NJ.com:

Today, it’s clear Colao was more than just a doctor, friend or confidant to many of the officers.

He was their supplier.

A seven-month Star-Ledger investigation drawing on prescription records, court documents and detailed interviews with the physician’s employees shows Colao ran a thriving illegal drug enterprise that supplied anabolic steroids and human growth hormone to hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters throughout New Jersey.

From a seemingly above-board practice in Jersey City, Colao frequently broke the law and his own oath by faking medical diagnoses to justify his prescriptions for the drugs, the investigation shows.

Many of the officers and firefighters willingly took part in the ruse, finding Colao provided an easy way to obtain tightly regulated substances that are illegal without a valid prescription, the investigation found.

Others were persuaded by the physician’s polished sales pitch, one that glossed over the risks and legal realities, the newspaper found. A small percentage may have legitimately needed the drugs to treat uncommon medical conditions.

It was later revealed that at least 248 officers and firefighters from 53 agencies made use of Colao’s fraudulent practice in just over a year to get muscle building drugs.

The baseball commissioner, Bud Selig, has issued a warning that Alex Rodriguez could face a suspension in the wake of his admission about use of performance enhancing drugs.

In an interview with USA Today, Selig said, “It was against the law, so I would have to think about that,” Selig told the newspaper. “It’s very hard. I’ve got to think about all that kind of stuff.”

From Espnstar.com:

One obstacle to meting out punishment for the New York Yankees‘ third baseman is the time frame of his admitted guilt.

Steroids and human growth hormone officially were placed on baseball’s banned substance prior to the 2004 season so any attempt to penalise a player for an infraction beforehand would almost certainly be challenged by the players union.

“I would be surprised if there was an attempt to do it,” said Donald Fehr, the union’s executive director.

Rodriguez admitted his use of steroids in an interview with ESPN on Monday – two days after Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids in 2003.

According to the report, Rodriguez’s name appeared on a list of 104 players who tested positive during a survey conducted by Major League Baseball in 2003.

Selig also remarked that he is mulling reinstating Hank Aaron as career home run leader of baseball.