Written by Rick Collins, J.D.
05 October 2006
 

Busted: Legal Q & A

By Rick Collins, JD

 

Beyond the End of Prohormones

 

Q: Do you expect to see consumers arrested by the cops for getting caught with a stash of prohormones they stocked up on?
A:
Unlikely in the near future. While anyone who possesses the newly controlled products will be a drug criminal, for now the products are controlled only at the federal level (with very limited exceptions). This is important, since most steroid cases are brought in state courts, not federal courts. If the products aren't scheduled by state laws, state courts can't prosecute them as a controlled substance crime. Unless and until individual states pass legislation to make their laws consistent with the new federal law, which could take several months or even years, state authorities will have little incentive to go after prohormones.

Q: What about the Feds? Will they start going after prohormone consumers?

A: Possibly, although it's doubtful that this would be an immediate priority for the DEA. Although the federal government can prosecute possession of any amount of a controlled substance, under the current U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (the system that determines federal criminal punishments), you'd need 12,500 prohormone tablets just to reach a Base Offense Level of 8 (0 to six months imprisonment, with straight probation available if there's a generally clean record), and 50,000 prohormone tablets just to reach a Base Offense Level of 10 (facing at most six to 12 months imprisonment if there's a generally clean record). So, although the maximum sentence by law for a first offense will be one year in prison, probation will be probable in the overwhelming number of potential cases. 


Q: How likely is it for someone who has something sitting in his fridge to be arrested?
A: There are too many variables to answer that. Life is full of surprises, and no ethical lawyer, myself included, would advise anyone to possess any controlled substance unlawfully [for all the reasons outlined in Legal Muscle]. Regardless, the people who stocked up on prohormones figured the chances of getting caught are less once it's safely in one's home. It's true, based on the hundreds of steroid possession cases I've seen in my practice, that the vast majority of people who've been arrested for steroid possession got caught during the process of receiving or importing the drugs, not after they had them hidden in their houses. All things considered, I don't see an epidemic of prohormone arrests in the immediate future. But with prohormone prohibition, I see an impending rise in the black market of foreign veterinary steroids and resulting prosecutions for these products in state courts.    

 

Q: What about the manufacturers and retailers? Are they in jeopardy?

A: Yes, if they remain in possession of products that are now controlled drugs.  But most, if not all, companies have liquidated their stock and moved on to developing new sports nutrition products that are still legal. Some of the more popular products may remain on the market in foreign countries, if legally permitted by those countries' laws. Some companies will investigate marketing new steroidal compounds that are not listed in the new law, although the legality of these products depends not only upon compliance with the new steroid law but also with the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA). This may become more relevant than ever before, now that the FDA has taken a heightened interest in products containing "new dietary ingredients" that were not on the market back in 1994, the year DSHEA was enacted. Products containing new dietary ingredients must meet certain criteria or risk being branded "adulterated" and removed from the market, as happened to androstenedione last year. Under the FDA's new enforcement priorities and evolving standards, safety data on new dietary ingredients will come to be expected. [Anyone with questions or comments on steroids, prohormones or other legal issues should visit the Team Legal Muscle booth at the upcoming Arnold Classic Expo in Columbus. Stop by and say hello!]

  

STEPHEN: REPEAT SAME BIO.