An April busted drug lab now appears to have also produced anabolics. This was reported by the Public Prosecution Service to NOS today [1].
Doping and Drugs
Anabolics and drugs, a new combination in drug labs. At least according to the spokesperson of the Public Prosecution Service. In Rotterdam, on April 18 this year, a raid was conducted in a warehouse following an investigation into stolen cars. There, a drug lab was found where ecstasy and amphetamines were produced. Now, research from the Netherlands Forensic Institute reveals that anabolic steroids were also being produced.
“The substances were mixed under unhygienic conditions. Producing anabolics in this way poses a great risk to the health of users. Ultimately, they don’t know what they are injecting or ingesting.”
“Prefer Doping over Drugs”
“We have not encountered this combination before,” said a spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service. That surprises me, but at the same time, it doesn’t.
Looking at the trade in anabolic steroids, many users can tell you that the same “guy” who supplies them with anabolic steroids is the same guy who ensures their weekends are a bit brighter. That’s not strange; both are illegal, and dealers are always willing to jump into a market prohibited by the legislature. After all, someone has to meet the demand. So, it’s not uncommon to find anabolics during raids as collateral damage of an operation primarily aimed at hard drugs [2,3].
Home labs for drugs are not new. However, home labs for anabolics aren’t new either. Two years ago, I spoke with journalist Dirk Bayens in preparation for a broadcast of KRO Reporter about home labs producing anabolics. According to sources in his program, there were about 8 labs in the Netherlands at that time. Besides dealers trading in both, it was only a matter of time before a lab was found producing both. In that regard, it’s surprising that it hasn’t happened earlier.
On the other hand, the trade in and use of anabolic steroids doesn’t interest Dutch Justice at all, as is also evident from the same broadcast of KRO Reporter. In it, Belgian police officers and Justice employees complain about the meager commitment of the Netherlands and the lack of a specific team in the Netherlands focusing on this issue, as in Belgium. There is also no legislation here against the trade and production of anabolics. It simply falls under the Medicines Act.
“Anabolics? Who Cares?”
In the Netherlands, you probably better off having a drug problem than an addiction to anabolic steroids. You can test drugs, but not anabolics. When I wanted to have a fat burner tested for an article following complaints from readers about contaminated supplements, I couldn’t turn to the usual agencies that test drugs for the weekend revelers.
For drugs, you can turn to various agencies to talk about your problems. Almost no attention is paid to anabolic use. Compared to drug and alcohol use, the problem is “too small” for the Dutch government to formulate a separate policy. Anabolic use doesn’t interest anyone here unless it’s about cycling.
Unknown Quality
Anabolics can be obtained in various ways. Through official channels, with a referral from your doctor, for example. However, this mainly happens formally in situations where your natural testosterone production is so low that testosterone administration is needed to function normally.
Another way is to get them from abroad. These can be from legitimate manufacturers who face less legislation in other countries regarding sales, which then boils down to getting them in the Netherlands. Buyers accept that not everything gets through customs.
A third way is through home labs. This saves the need to get them across the Dutch border if they are produced here. However, anabolics bought abroad can also be fake products, supposedly from a well-known pharmaceutical company with copied or counterfeit labels. That’s why many anabolic users know exactly how the jar, label, and lid of the products they use should look like. As the doping authority indicated to NOS, these fake products mainly came from China. However, anyone who has seen Scarface or any of the countless movies based on it knows that there is more money to be made if you cut out the middleman. Why pay the Chinese for rubbish when you can produce rubbish yourself?
In previous articles on anabolics and contaminated supplements, I already discussed the large number of anabolic steroids that don’t contain the substance they should or at least not in the mentioned quantities. So, you don’t know what or how much you’re ingesting, and it’s difficult to find out unless you pay for a lab to test it for each batch.
Personal Risk?
It’s probably because I’m a natural who would have preferred that anabolic steroids were never discovered. A small voice inside me says that people who inject that stuff should accept the consequences. However, it’s always easy to address someone else’s weaknesses when you have other weaknesses that are “off-topic” at the moment. Criticizing someone for being overweight while you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, for example.
Still, I think this group specifically can be very persistent. Bodybuilders often encounter ignorance. Ignorance about nutrition, training, and anabolic use, even from doctors. They are used to hearing exaggerated stories about the risks of use, making real warnings unheard. If you feel you know more than your doctor, you won’t take their advice seriously.
An alcoholic deep down knows what he’s doing isn’t right, just like a drug addict. No matter how hard they try to convince themselves and you that they can function normally. Many anabolic users I personally know believe they know and can manage all the risks well. In some cases, I share that opinion in the sense that the user has a lot of knowledge. In other cases, it’s clear that’s not the case. For example, when a user asks me, a non-user, how to deal with certain problems they encounter. These questions are asked to me because it’s known that I write extensively about the subject, but even then: If I were the one injecting that stuff, you can bet I would know much more about the subject. Moreover, I would want to know what I’m injecting, and in practice, that’s very difficult.
“If you wanna flex your bitch, it’s no problem”
Oh, why make a fuss anyway? It’s just convenient not having to go to your XTC dealer first and then to your anabolic guy for a nice weekend out Geordie Shore-style. Pop a pill, inject a shot, and blast with your biceps. Not only can you now go to one address “for all your Christmas shopping,” but also cheaper because you’re directly at the source. “I say, go for it!”
On the other hand, it sucks if you only use anabolics yourself, and your anabolic supplier gets caught because he found out that the production of XTC yielded more. You have to start looking again, sigh. It reminds me a bit of The Godfather where the old guard prefers to continue making money from “clean businesses” like prostitution and extortion. The “dirty” drug trade may earn a lot of money, but also the attention of the police. Well, you can’t have it all.
References
- nos.nl/artikel/2067176-xtc-fabrikanten-werpen-zich-ook-op-anabolen.html
- destentor.nl/algemeen/binnenland/politie-vindt-harddrugs-en-anabole-stero%C3%AFden-bij-inval-sportschool-drunen-1.4604091
- wos.nl/nieuwsbericht/item/20151105-inval-in-maassluis-autobedrijf-vanwege-xtc-onderzoek/
