November 4, 2005 -- It’s Easy to Buy Anabolic Steroids, Investigators Find

It is perfectly easy to buy illegal anabolic steroids without a prescription, on the Internet, investigators for the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) told Congress in testimony released yesterday. Asked by members of Congress to check out the availability of steroids, which are used by athletes to “bulk up” muscles, the investigators said they were easily able to place orders online and receive shipment of steroids from foreign countries although such sales are illegal in this country. The GAO said it has referred its findings to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration “for appropriate action,” but federal officials pointed out that the sheer volume of imports from abroad and the relatively low sentences that result from application of federal sentencing guidelines to persons convicted of illegal steroid trafficking make it hard to crack down on suppliers. The full text of the GAO’s testimony is available online at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06243r.pdf