Chapter[ Summary & Recommendations ]
Section[ G. Players’ Use of Substances Purchased from Anti-Aging Centers ]
G. Players’ Use of Substances Purchased from Anti-Aging Centers
In February 2007, a government task force executed search warrants on Signature
Compounding Pharmacy in Orlando, Florida and other businesses, including several so-called
“rejuvenation centers,” exposing another source of illegal performance enhancing substances.
Some businesses that describe themselves as anti-aging or rejuvenation centers sell steroids or
human growth hormone and arrange for buyers to obtain prescriptions for those substances from
corrupt or suspended physicians or even, in some cases, a dentist. The prescriptions are then
filled by a compounding pharmacy affiliated with the center and delivered to the buyer either
through the mail or at the “clinic.”
In a series of news reports during 2007, eight active major league players and
eight former players were identified as appearing in the customer records of either anti-aging
clinics or compounding pharmacies that are involved in this illegal trade. Those players
reportedly purchased steroids, human growth hormone, and other drugs used to counteract the
effects of steroid use.
Several players mentioned in these news reports admitted that they purchased
human growth hormone from an anti-aging clinic or rejuvenation center and claimed that the
purchases were to treat an injury or other medical condition. The Food and Drug Administration
has never approved the use of human growth hormone to treat an athletic injury, to become more
lean, or to improve athletic performance. The use of human growth hormone is a violation of
federal law if not for an authorized purpose, even if with a prescription. In any event, based on
the news reports it is doubtful that the prescriptions were valid.
In the section of this report entitled “Alleged Internet Purchases of Performance
Enhancing Substances By Players in Major League Baseball,” I briefly describe alleged
purchases by sixteen players. The information in that section was obtained from public sources,
SR-22
primarily news articles. All of these disclosures arose out of investigations by federal and state
law enforcement agencies.
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