Please Scroll Down to See Forums Below 
.jpg "Research Chemical Sciences")
.png "Research Chemical Sciences")
blackhatcowboy
New member
Practice Is Open, Investigators Say
By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief
November 4 2005
WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators Thursday found hundreds of websites "openly and boldly" selling illegal anabolic steroids through the Internet, with distributors difficult to find and punish.
"Our investigators easily obtained anabolic steroids without a prescription through the Internet," the Government Accountability Office said in a 14-page report. "After conducting Internet searches, they found hundreds of websites offering anabolic steroids commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders for sale."
Congress has been trying hard this year to curb steroid use in sports, and is considering legislation to toughen penalties. Lawmakers vowed action on the report's findings.
"Steroid trafficking over the Web is unsafe and illegal," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, vice chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which has held hearings on steroid-related issues.
"We've got to toughen the consequences for dealing steroids on the Internet and keep sending the message to our young athletes that steroids aren't acceptable."
Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis 3rd, R-Va., agreed, saying he wants to consider harsher penalties for sellers.
Committee spokesman Robert White said new hearings on the report are possible.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., the panel's top Democrat, also wanted action. The report, he said, illustrated that "dangerous and illegal steroids are just a mouse click away."
Under U.S. law, such steroids cannot be sold without a prescription. Anabolic steroids, synthetic forms of testosterone, are commonly used to treat such conditions as delayed puberty or AIDS-related symptoms.
They have become popular in recent years among athletes aiming to bulk up their bodies and improve performance, sparking controversy over whether sports records, particularly in baseball, have been enhanced by athletes using illegal help.
The GAO began its online probe by using the words "anabolic steroids" or the names of specific steroids. It found hundreds of sources offering such products for sale, and placed 22 orders from randomly selected sites.
Sites "typically offer `private and confidential' sales of `discretely shipped' anabolic steroids that will `shape your body the way ... you want it to look,"' the GAO found.
It also discovered packages "offered by the websites are designed for a variety of different users, from `beginning' muscle builders to advanced `mass' builders to customers interested in the `ladies lean stack."'
The agency created an e-mail account under a fictitious name, and ordered the steroids. It got 14 shipments, and 10 were anabolic steroids. The substances in four of the packages were not, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The packages containing steroids came from three countries. Five were from Trieste, Italy, four were from Shanghai, China, and one was from Athens.
Each of the four Shanghai shipments came in plain 6-by-9 inch envelopes, and each had a different person's return address.
The four packages that did not actually contain steroids came from within the United States. One package, which cost $---, contained 150 yellow tablets of Stanozolol. Another had 20 tablets of Stanozolol and cost $--. A third had crushed green tablets of Oxymetholone for $---, and the fourth contained 40 Oxymetholone tablets for $---.
The GAO also looked at law enforcement tools, the area Davis wants to explore further.
"There is a readily available supply of steroids worldwide because, in most countries, anabolic steroids can be sold legally without a prescription," the agency said.
As a result, distributors are not violating laws of their own country, so U.S. officials have trouble getting foreign nations to help track down sellers.
Beginning Sunday, the Courant's four-part investigative series, "Steroids: Just Click and Buy," goes deep inside the illegal Internet market.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
------------------------------------------
I edited out the prices they listed in the article. Also here is a teaser for the four part series that starts Sunday
------------------------------------------
STEROIDS: JUST CLICK AND BUY
A four-part investigative series shows just how easy it is for anyone, including teenagers, to buy anabolic steroids illegally on the Internet. In the course of a six-month investigation, The Courant bought the drugs illegally from three foreign websites, then had their contents independently tested. All the drugs contained steroids -- or worse. A special report by Courant staff writers Paul Doyle and Josh Kovner.
By DAVID LIGHTMAN
Washington Bureau Chief
November 4 2005
WASHINGTON -- Federal investigators Thursday found hundreds of websites "openly and boldly" selling illegal anabolic steroids through the Internet, with distributors difficult to find and punish.
"Our investigators easily obtained anabolic steroids without a prescription through the Internet," the Government Accountability Office said in a 14-page report. "After conducting Internet searches, they found hundreds of websites offering anabolic steroids commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders for sale."
Congress has been trying hard this year to curb steroid use in sports, and is considering legislation to toughen penalties. Lawmakers vowed action on the report's findings.
"Steroid trafficking over the Web is unsafe and illegal," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, vice chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, which has held hearings on steroid-related issues.
"We've got to toughen the consequences for dealing steroids on the Internet and keep sending the message to our young athletes that steroids aren't acceptable."
Government Reform Committee Chairman Thomas M. Davis 3rd, R-Va., agreed, saying he wants to consider harsher penalties for sellers.
Committee spokesman Robert White said new hearings on the report are possible.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., the panel's top Democrat, also wanted action. The report, he said, illustrated that "dangerous and illegal steroids are just a mouse click away."
Under U.S. law, such steroids cannot be sold without a prescription. Anabolic steroids, synthetic forms of testosterone, are commonly used to treat such conditions as delayed puberty or AIDS-related symptoms.
They have become popular in recent years among athletes aiming to bulk up their bodies and improve performance, sparking controversy over whether sports records, particularly in baseball, have been enhanced by athletes using illegal help.
The GAO began its online probe by using the words "anabolic steroids" or the names of specific steroids. It found hundreds of sources offering such products for sale, and placed 22 orders from randomly selected sites.
Sites "typically offer `private and confidential' sales of `discretely shipped' anabolic steroids that will `shape your body the way ... you want it to look,"' the GAO found.
It also discovered packages "offered by the websites are designed for a variety of different users, from `beginning' muscle builders to advanced `mass' builders to customers interested in the `ladies lean stack."'
The agency created an e-mail account under a fictitious name, and ordered the steroids. It got 14 shipments, and 10 were anabolic steroids. The substances in four of the packages were not, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
The packages containing steroids came from three countries. Five were from Trieste, Italy, four were from Shanghai, China, and one was from Athens.
Each of the four Shanghai shipments came in plain 6-by-9 inch envelopes, and each had a different person's return address.
The four packages that did not actually contain steroids came from within the United States. One package, which cost $---, contained 150 yellow tablets of Stanozolol. Another had 20 tablets of Stanozolol and cost $--. A third had crushed green tablets of Oxymetholone for $---, and the fourth contained 40 Oxymetholone tablets for $---.
The GAO also looked at law enforcement tools, the area Davis wants to explore further.
"There is a readily available supply of steroids worldwide because, in most countries, anabolic steroids can be sold legally without a prescription," the agency said.
As a result, distributors are not violating laws of their own country, so U.S. officials have trouble getting foreign nations to help track down sellers.
Beginning Sunday, the Courant's four-part investigative series, "Steroids: Just Click and Buy," goes deep inside the illegal Internet market.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant
------------------------------------------
I edited out the prices they listed in the article. Also here is a teaser for the four part series that starts Sunday
------------------------------------------
STEROIDS: JUST CLICK AND BUY
A four-part investigative series shows just how easy it is for anyone, including teenagers, to buy anabolic steroids illegally on the Internet. In the course of a six-month investigation, The Courant bought the drugs illegally from three foreign websites, then had their contents independently tested. All the drugs contained steroids -- or worse. A special report by Courant staff writers Paul Doyle and Josh Kovner.
