Thread: U.S. prosecutors seek names of firefighters, officers who used steroids

U.S. prosecutors seek names of firefighters, officers who used steroids from Jersey City doctor
by Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger

Federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena seeking the names of hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters who obtained anabolic steroids through an unscrupulous Jersey City doctor, part of a wider criminal probe targeting physicians who improperly prescribe the drugs.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark served the subpoena on the New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, which collects data from pharmacies on every prescription they fill for steroids and other controlled dangerous substances, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation.

The drugs were shipped to the officers and firefighters in New Jersey from a pharmacy in Brooklyn.

The officials, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case, said prosecutors do not intend to bring charges against the steroid users unless it’s determined they sold the substances.

Rather, one of the officials said, the aim is to find out if the officers and firefighters obtained the drugs from other doctors after the death of Joseph Colao, a Jersey City physician who prescribed steroids and human growth hormone when they weren’t medically necessary.

"The plan is for the information to be applied any way it can in a statewide probe of doctors who improperly prescribe this stuff," one of the law enforcement officials said. "We don’t think it’s isolated."

The subpoena marks the first indication of federal involvement on the issue in New Jersey. The state Attorney General’s Office has been examining steroid use in law enforcement since December, when The Star-Ledger published a three-part series focusing largely on Colao, a steroid user who was 45 when he died.

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The newspaper found he prescribed steroids or growth hormone to at least 248 officers and firefighters through the Brooklyn pharmacy in 2006 and 2007.

Because the uniformed public servants used their government-sponsored health plans, taxpayers unwittingly subsidized the steroid use, paying out millions of dollars.

The Star-Ledger found that after Colao’s death in August 2007, his patients flocked to other physicians who specialize in prescribing the substances.

Steroids and growth hormone have legitimate medical uses, but authorities and many in the medical community say more and more doctors are prescribing them illegally under the guise of "anti-aging" medicine.

In the past several years, physicians and owners of anti-aging clinics have been charged from New York to California. Some of those doctors and clinics catered to athletes. More often, they provided the drugs to average Americans — including officers and firefighters — looking to bulk up.

The concern among law enforcement officials goes beyond the negative health effects associated with anabolic steroids. Research has found that in some cases, the drugs can lead to confusion, recklessness and aggression.

At least six of Colao’s patients — four police officers and two corrections officers — were named in lawsuits alleging excessive force or civil rights violations around the time they received drugs from him. Others were criminally charged or fired over allegations that include domestic abuse, assault and drug possession.

Federal prosecutors in Newark issued the subpoena to the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement more than three weeks ago. The agency, a law enforcement arm of the New York State Department of Health, is in the process of gathering the names, the second official said.

Rebekah Carmichael, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment, saying she could neither confirm nor deny the existence of any investigation.

The federal probe comes as a state task force nears completion on a set of recommendations meant to address steroid use in the ranks, along with the role of doctors in making the drugs easily available.

Attorney General Paula Dow, who appointed the task force in the wake of The Star-Ledger reports, told the newspaper in March the state is likely to strengthen oversight of physicians, increase steroid testing of officers and launch more aggressive investigations.

The state already has taken steps intended to make it harder for people to obtain the drugs for nonmedical purposes, enacting new safeguards in the prescription drug program used by hundreds of thousands of public workers and their dependents.

Before a prescription for any anabolic steroid is filled, a doctor or pharmacist must attest in writing or over the phone that the drugs are for a medically accepted diagnosis. Prescriptions for testosterone, the most commonly prescribed anabolic steroid, are limited to cases in which patients’ testosterone levels fall below a medically accepted standard.

The task force is expected to release its recommendations in the next month.

Why, exactly, is it not right for police officers and better yet firefighters - who regularly have to deal with crackheads, scumbags, rapists, punks, etc. and have to save lives - to be bigger and stronger? Tell me Uncle Sam. Almighty Supreme all-knowing Uncle Sam.... tell me tell me. There must a good valid reason, right? Right?

Fix the economy and stop raising taxes you pathetic politicians. I'm embarassed FOR you.