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 By: Legal Muscle
The new law also provides $15 million for educational programs for children about the dangers of anabolic steroids, and directs the U.S. Sentencing Commission to consider revising federal guidelines to increase the penalties for steroid possession and distribution.
The law adds 26 new steroid compounds to the previous list of substances that are legally defined as "anabolic steroids" and classified as Schedule III controlled substances.
The new compounds are:
Some of these new substances have been widely marketed as dietary supplements. Others are actually very old pharmaceutical steroids that were missed in the original federal law.
Even under the 1990 law, the Attorney General had the authority under 21 U.S.C. ? 811 to schedule additional or newly discovered steroidal compounds without going back to Congress for approval. However, under the old law, in order for a compound to qualify as an anabolic steroid, the Attorney General was required to prove that the compound had anabolic properties. Under the new law, the Attorney General must only establish that the compound is chemically and pharmacologically related to testosterone. Litigation may be required to explore what "pharmacologically related" means with respect to steroidal compounds. As the Attorney General schedules new products, the News page at www.teamlegalmuscle.com will report them. The law permits the continued sale of DHEA as a dietary supplement. It also fixes some of the mistakes and poor draftsmanship of the 1990 law that I pointed out in the original Legal Muscle. Compounds that had been erroneously listed twice, under alternate names, are now listed only once (reducing by correction the original list of 27 compounds to 23). What Happens If You Are In Possession?
But once the law goes into effect, the tablets will be legally transformed into a federally controlled substance. Under 21 U.S.C. ? 844, possession of even one tablet will be a federal crime punishable by up to one year in jail for a first offense, and up to two years in prison for anyone with a prior drug conviction.
The original 1990 law was pitched to the public as a solution to steroids in sports. However, not only has steroid use by athletes continued, but judging from the unprecedented frenzy over the issue this past year the problem appears much bigger than ever. What the law will do is put an end to most (although not all, at this point) legal steroidal dietary supplements, leaving black market steroids as the remaining option. While increased penalties for steroid possession will deter some, others will flock to the black market. Don't be surprised if we see a dramatic rise in the use of illegal steroids. Prohibition always has a cost. You can also expect to see a revision in the way that steroids are quantified under the federal sentencing guidelines. There may be a reevaluation of the way dosage units are quantified, or a reduction in quantity thresholds for the various offense levels. And don't be surprised if we see a newly invigorated anti-steroid enforcement crusade by the DEA once the sentencing guidelines are amended. Even before the President signed the new law, DEA was sounding a war cry. "We are now focused on steroid trafficking and abuse as never before," said Michele Leonhart, deputy administrator with DEA, at a steroids summit in Los Angeles. Watch for explicit updates on this point in future Legal Muscle supplements and announcements on the News page of www.teamlegalmuscle.com.
Also, expect individual states to review their own statutes and codes in an effort to harmonize their steroid laws with the new federal statute. Right now, state laws are quite a hodgepodge. The new federal law may inspire efforts at uniformity in many jurisdictions. Once new state laws are enacted, expect state troopers and local police to ramp up their enforcement efforts against steroid users. Remember, as detailed in Legal Muscle, that most steroid cases have been prosecuted in state courts anyway. Again, as the laws change, information will be printed in future Legal Muscle supplements. The backers of this bill have proclaimed that it's all about "values." But neither the Declaration of Independence nor the U.S. Constitution says anything at all about maintaining a level sports playing field via the purity of an athlete's urine. There were alternative ways to protect teens and to foster ethics in sports, without criminalizing mature American consumers.
Independence, freedom and personal liberty are the timeless values this nation was founded upon. Keep that in mind as you read Legal Muscle now, from the perspective that what's presented will soon apply to what were legal over-the-counter products just months ago. (c) 2004 by Rick Collins, J.D., and Legal Muscle Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. For informational purposes only, not to be construed as legal advice. More About Rick Collins: Rick Collins, Esq., is a veteran lawyer and former competitive bodybuilder who has been involved in the defense of over 1,000 anabolic steroid cases nationwide. He is the author of the groundbreaking new book LEGAL MUSCLE: Anabolics in America, available through www.SteroidLaw.com. [ Rick Collins, 2003. All rights reserved. For informational purposes only, not to be construed as legal advice.]
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On October 22, 2004, President Bush signed into law the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, scheduled to take effect 90 days later. Ratified by the U.S. Congress earlier in the month, the bill expanded the steroid law that had been passed in 1990.
The law also changes the general requisite elements of an anabolic steroid. The "promotes muscle growth" language that precedes the list of compounds [see Legal Muscle for an analysis of the 1990 law] is now removed from the statute. Strangely, an anabolic steroid, under the new law, need not be anabolic. The omission of the criterion of promoting muscle growth profoundly impacts the process by which a newly created "designer" steroidal compound may be scheduled.
To make things a bit less abstract, let's assume a hypothetical scenario. First, let's say that in December 2004, a consumer buys a bottle of 1-testosterone, to randomly choose one out of many examples of products that are listed in the new law. Legal to buy? Absolutely.
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