If you were to guess which illegal drug is selling like hotcakes, you would probably think that it would be something addictive like heroin. Well, according to Director David Howman of the World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA, there is more money made in selling anabolic steroids than in trafficking of heroin. He released this statement at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission where he was a speaker during a recent symposium.
From The Jamaica Observer:
The trained barrister told the Observer there are no official statistics, but based his comments on anecdotal evidence gathered by WADA.
“It’s very difficult to have evidence on, because if it’s not illegal there is nobody gathering the statistics, but it’s been corroborated by researchers and we commissioned someone in Italy who formed a view that through the Internet and how it was being trafficked. The evidence is there,” he told the Observer.
Steroids are banned in most sporting events of almost any sport. According to Howman, even though there are laws on the use of performance enhancing drugs, some sports such as baseball are not that strict in enforcing these laws. Baseball officials have already seen their lack of control over their athletes after the Mitchell Report was released last year. Many athletes manage to outsmart the system though.
Howman also highlighted several ways in which athletes try to ‘beat the system’ to avoid detection of doping, such as directly injecting urine into the bladder using a syringe and needle or through using a device known as a ‘Whizzinator’.
The Whizzinator comes as a kit complete with dried urine and syringe, heater packs, and a false penis which athletes use to fraudulently beat drugs tests. There is also said to be a female version.
The only chance to truly eradicate the trafficking of steroids is if police forces would coordinate with each other, no matter what state or country. Howman cited the case of Marion Jones wherein even the Interpol was set to help if the athlete had been out of the country.
