In India, the doping scandal involving school children is threatening to take shocking proportions with schools from Punjab and Maharashtra topping the list of offenders.

Eleven children - from boxing, wrestling, and weightlifting - tested positive for steroids and diuretics during the 57th National School Games, which concluded recently in New Delhi, according to NationalAnti-Doping Agency .

From Timesofindia.indiatimes.com:

While the three wrestlers tested positive for diuretic furosemide (a substance used to mask the presence of prohibited substances in the body), the weightlifters’ samples contained the steroid stanozolol THC (found in marijuana). The boxers tested positive for a cocktail of banned drugs - stanozolol THC (marijuana), methylhexaneamine and nandrolone.

Those caught for doping in wrestling are from schools in Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, while in weightlifting the positive cases came from the students of Delhi and Punjab schools. In boxing, the positive samples were found in students from Maharashtra, Manipur and Punjab.

“This has become a very serious matter. That 14 per cent of the samples have returned positive is a matter of shame for the schools and officials. It is much higher than the national average of 4 per cent,” NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar told TOI.

Tags:  boxing, diuretic, diuretics, doping scandal, furosemide, methylhexaneamine, Nandrolone, Stanozolol, steroid, Steroids, weightlifting, wrestling

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Colin Lathbury has been asked to pay back more than £400,000 he obtained in his role as part of a multi-million pound empire of illegal steroids.

The South Derbyshire man was one of the four conspirators in the racket to have nearly £4 million of their assets confiscated.

From Burtonmail.co.uk:

Lathbury, now of Jurby East, on the Isle of Man, was ordered to pay back £412,676.50p within six months or face another 42 months behind bars.

The illegal anabolic steroids operation was led by Patrick Hyland, assisted by his former wife, Hyacinth, described as the money laundering ‘brains’ of the operation.

The Hylands were said to have funded a lavish lifestyle of expensive houses, boats, cars, jewellery, art and luxury holidays on the illegal profits of the drugs sourced from the Czech Republic in huge quantities.

The steroids racket came to the limelight during a police investigation into the disappearance of Paul Duckenfield, a known dealer.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, Steroids

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After admitting being part of a plot to deal illegal and dangerous bodybuilding drugs, two St Helens-based police officers will spend time in jail.

An undercover police officer exposed detective Constable Paul Fletcher and Sergeant Paul Hornby. It was found that they were involved in the supply chain of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.

From Sthelensstar.co.uk:

Fletcher, aged 47, was sentenced to the most severe punishment of seven and a half years in prison after Liverpool Crown Court was told he also admitted leaking confidential information to an underworld criminal about the arrest of four men following a house burglary in Dentons Green.

He also offered advice to a suspect who was being investigated for firearms offences and revealed the identity of a police informant, placing him in danger.

Fletcher, of Downall Green Road, Wigan, even persuaded his son, Paul Fletcher Jr., to enter the world of criminality and deal in steroids.

Tags:  Anabolic steroids, bodybuilding drugs, human growth hormone, Steroids

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Former All Blacks are left fuming over allegations of steroid taking in the 1990s.

New Zealand Rugby Union’s head of sales and marketing between 1997 and 1999, Jack Ralston, made the allegation in his yet-to-be-released biography, The Sports Insider, the Press reports.

From Nzherald.co.nz:

“People might be stunned by this but I know at least two All Blacks in the 1990s who responded to demands that they bulk up by taking steroids,” he wrote.

Ralston would not name the two players, who he said had told him in confidence, telling Fairfax Media they were “smaller guys who needed to put on muscle and bulk who were under pressure”.

He said the players may now feel they can speak publicly about taking the performance enhancing substances.

“He has cast aspersion on a lot of people and I can say that during my time with the team I saw none of that,” ex-captain Taine Randell told Fairfax.

Tags:  All Blacks, rugby, steroid, Steroids

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According to ex-enforcer Georges Laraque, steroid and illegal drug use was a problem in the NHL not too long ago.

Laraque talks about steroid use in the NHL in his new book, “The Story of the NHL’s Unluckiest Tough Guy.”

From Larrybrownsports.com:

“I have to say here that tough guys weren’t the only players using steroids in the NHL,” the former Canadien wrote. “It was true that quite a lot of them did use this drug, but other, more talented players did too. Most of us knew who they were, but not a single player, not even me, would ever think of raising his hand to break the silence and accuse a fellow player.”

Laraque explained that if you look at a player’s decrease in efficiency and weight loss, you’ll notice there is a significant drop every four years when the Winter Olympics are held.  Obviously, the Olympics have a strict drug testing policy which would result in players being declared ineligible if they were caught.

“Before a game, as I would warm up on the ice, I would always look at the tough guy on the other side,” he said. “If his arms were trembling, if his eyes were bulging, I knew for sure he wasn’t going to feel any of the punches I would give him.”

Tags:  Georges Laraque, NHL, steroid, Steroid use, Steroids

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A steroids dealer was sentenced to five years and one month in prison on federal drug and gun charges after he said he had a plan to kill police officers.

The 38-year-old, Damon Bruce Beshears, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, according to a plea deal Beshears had reached with prosecutors in August.

From Statesman.com:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Marshall said that he agreed to the deal presented by Beshears’ lawyer in part because Beshears has a history of mental illness — he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital about two months before his arrest in June.

“I talked to the officers who were involved and their impression was he was more of a danger to himself than to them,” Marshall said.

Beshears’ lawyer, Joe Lopez, said his client’s mental health has drastically improved since his arrest.

“The steroids, in combination with the other medication that he takes, I think, just drove him nuts,” Lopez said. “He was a prisoner in his own body.

“I can totally tell now that the steroids are not a part of his life; he’s completely a changed person,” Lopez said.

Tags:  Steroids, steroids dealer

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A Monroe County doctor awaiting sentencing on a steroids charge threatened his estranged wife, according to allegations by federal prosecutors.

The prosecutors requested the judge to lock him up.

From Blog.al.com:

Dr. Mark Peter Koch pleaded guilty last month to a charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute steroids. A judge allowed him to remain free at a friend’s house in Andalusia until his sentencing in January. One of the conditions of his release is that he have no contact with Jenny Koch.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gina Vann wrote in a motion that Dr. Koch called his estranged wife on Thursday and threatened to physically harm her.

“The United States submits that the conditions the Court previously imposed were not sufficient to protect Jenny Koch and the community from the defendant’s criminal activity, and that the defendant is in direct violation of said conditions of release and said conditions are due to be revoked,” Vann wrote.

Tags:  distribute steroids, Steroids

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The treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with glucosteroids provides relief of symptoms, but the therapy leads to significant increase in the composition of body fat, as per researchers at the Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade in Amsterdam.

“In this early arthritis cohort, there were unfavorable changes in body fat composition after one year in glucosteroid users that were not observed in glucosteroid nonusers,” Michael Nurmohamed, MD, senior reader in rheumatology at Jan van Breemen Research Institute/Reade, in Amsterdam said at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

From Medpagetoday.com:

In the study, the researchers followed 100 consecutive patients from their early arthritis cohort. Early arthritis was defined as diagnosis of the disease for less than two years. Women made up 68% of the cohort.

The group included 85 patients who had rheumatoid arthritis according to American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria; the remaining patients had undifferentiated arthritis.

Doctors prescribed a glucosteroid to 74% of the patients in the first year of treatment, at a mean oral dose of 7.6 mg. The patients underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and after 12 months of treatment.

The patients on steroids reduced their DAS28 (Disability Activity Score) from a baseline of 5.2 points to 2.7 points at the end of the year. Patients who were not on steroids reduced their DAS28 scores from 4.1 points to 2.8 points. Both reductions were statistically significant within the groups (P<0.05), but it was also significantly different in favor of the steroid users (P<0.001), the researchers explained.

“This effect occurred despite a greater decrease of disease activity in the glucosteroid users which would be expected to favorably influence body fat distribution by encouraging more physical activity,” Nurmohamed told at a poster presentation.

Tags:  steroid, Steroids

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SA Boxing Featherweight champion Matima Molefe has been banned for two years by the SA Institute for Drug-Free Sport.

This was after the boxer tested positive for anabolic steroids after the featherweight title fight in May this year.

From Sport24.co.za:

The banned substances were found in Molefe’s urine sample, which was taken by the Institute’s doping control officials on 29 May 2011, after the featherweight title fight in East London.

Khalid Galant, CEO of the Institute of Drug-Free Sport, says that Matima tested positive for metabolites of the anabolic agent, Nandrolone.

Latest doping figures show that anabolic steroid doping amongst boxers is becoming a trend because of the misconception that steroids alone will enhance their performance and give them additional strength and power.

Galant says that drug abuse by professional boxers is becoming rife, with four positives out of 87 tests reported for the period April 2010 to March 2011.

“Boxing is a sport that combines high level co-ordination of gross motor skills with speed and strength. By focusing on illegal performance gains from steroids and ignoring the consequences that a doping ban can have, boxers are placing their championship status and earning potential at risk,.” Gallant said.

Tags:  anabolic steroid doping, Anabolic steroids, boxing, featherweight champion, Matima Molefe, Nandrolone, Steroids

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Eric Allen Garonzik, a Lower Allen Township physical trainer, who was already serving a one-year sentence in a state prison after being convicted in a federal case of selling steroids.

The 41-year-old faces a sentence ranging from probation to nine months in county prison after being found guilty by a jury of simple assault and harassment.

From Cumberlink.com:

Garonzik is serving the sentence through the Dauphin County Work Release program. Since he is already in prison, Chief Deputy District Attorney Matthew Smith said he had no reason to have Garonzik’s bail on the simple assault case reinstated.

Garonzik took the stand in his own defense Tuesday morning to say that he never hit the woman he was accused of assaulting at a Lemoyne gym March 7.

The woman testified Monday that, after an earlier incident, Garonzik returned to the gym, asked to talk to her in a group fitness room, and then hit her twice in the face and backed her into a heavy bag.

Garonzik testified that he never even raised his voice while the two were in the workout room arguing about finances.

“Obviously we’re pleased with the verdict,” Smith said. “Both lawyers had to walk a tight rope as far as his past history, which was intertwined with (the victim). … I’m glad the jury was able to see past his attempt to lambast her.”

Tags:  group fitness, Steroids

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