Drug charges against Carter dropped

A police officer and former Mr Gay UK, PC Mark Carter, who was cleared of raping a man in June, has had the remaining charges against him dropped.

The 28-year-old was due to face trial later this year on separate charges of possessing the anabolic steroid, stanozolol.

From Bbc.co.uk:

Peter Mann, head of West Yorkshire CPS's complex casework unit, said: "Having carefully considered expert evidence, we are satisfied that Mr Carter's use of the drugs was for a medicinal purpose within the terms of the Medicines Act 1968."
Pc Carter went on trial at Leeds Crown Court earlier this year charged with sexually assaulting three men and raping a fourth while on a Christmas night out with colleagues.
He was cleared of two rape charges and two sexual assault charges but the jury failed to reach a verdict on another sexual assault charge and this was not proceeded with.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said, "This case involves an allegation relating to the possession of steroids. A decision regarding disciplinary action remains under consideration."

Two plead guilty to steroids charge

A Monroe County doctor and a North Alabama man pleaded guilty to participating in a steroids conspiracy.

Dr. Mark Peter Koch admitted that he sold and consumed anabolic steroids.

From Blog.al.com:

Prosecutors and Koch, who has a troubled history with state medical regulatory authorities, agreed that the conspiracy involved more than 300 grams of steroids.

His attorney, Ken Nixon, declined to comment after the hearing

James Robinson, an attorney for Rivers, said notwithstanding a summary of facts contained in the plea agreement, it is “not necessarily true” that his client was Koch’s supplier of the controversial performance-enhancing drugs.

“He is not the main defendant in the case,” he said. “He was ancillary. And they recognize that.”

Steroids becoming integral part of modern-day lifestyle

Anabolic steroids are being admired by people across the world for promoting lean muscle mass and stay in the best shape.

"The psychological effects are highly variable," said Harrison Pope, steroid specialist, psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Harvard University. "Most people who take anabolic steroids don't get much of any psychological effects, but for reasons that are not well understood, a minority of people can get quite striking psychological effects."

From Iowastatedaily.com:

"About one person out of 10 will get really quite uncharacteristically irritable and aggressive on steroids, and one person out of 10 will develop fairly pronounced depressive symptoms after coming off of steroids, especially if they've taken them for a prolonged period of time," Pope said.

For users like Carl, the psychological effects are not even on the radar. Carl focuses primarily on his physical health and monitors it through frequent checks of his blood.

"Blood work is essential. I get it done every 12 weeks or so to make sure my health stays in check," Carl said. "I use a private lab where you can schedule an appointment at one of their sites. They'll take your blood and it's completely anonymous."

"Most of us [power lifters] go to a powerlifting meet or body-building show to see just how far the human body can be pushed," Ryan Wagner, certified sports nutritionist at the Ames Nutrishop, said. "Regardless of if the person is using anabolics or not, the amount of hard work, dedication and technique that goes into it is at a higher level than most people will ever realize."

Anthony Jones had excess amount of potassium in system at time of death

According to an Arkansas State Athletic Commission report released this week, one of the contributing factors of boxer Anthony Jones' death may have been an excess amount of potassium in Jones' system.

Jones was knocked out during a January heavyweight bout in Benton, Arkansas.

From NYdailynews.com:

"Jones' use of alcohol and anabolic steroids, together with his extraordinary use of caffeine, tobacco, and nutritional supplements on top of additional multi-vitamins and potassium supplements without drinking sufficient water, created a biological environment which altered his normal physiological responses and facilitated his demise," the report said. The complex biological and chemical processes involved in this case made it remarkably difficult for the professionals to reach a consensus as to the specific cause of death. In fact, due to the multiple origins and particularly complex nature of the biological, chemical and physical processes involved, it is possible for reasonable, medically and professionally trained minds to disagree on Jones' specific, primary cause of death; however, all agree as to the secondary/contributing conditions or factors."
The report makes the analogy that Jones' death was similar to the domino effect – once one organ or body function fails, others will soon follow.

"The short and overly simplistic answer is that Mr. Jones died as the result of a cascading systems failure caused by extraordinarily complex biological and chemical processes of multiple origins," the report says. One of the steroids found in Jones' system was the veterinary steroid boldenone.

Mayweather claims Khan on steroids like Pacquiao

The reigning light welterweight champion Amir Khan is likely into performance enhancing drugs, according to Roger Mayweather.

Ring icon Manny Pacquiao was previously accused by Mayweather of steroids use.

From Gmanews.tv:

The allegations obviously stemmed shortly after the 24-year-old Khan's remarkable fifth-round knockout of Zab Juddah to unify the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) 140-pound title belts.
The Bolton, England-born Khan is Pacquiao's regular sparmate and also trains under Freddie Roach.
Like Khan, Pacquiao had been accused time and again by the Mayweathers—including Floyd Jr and his father—of being under performance enhancing drugs, an allegation that forced the Filipino boxing champion of taking them to court.
Clean fighter
Khan denied he's ever used steroids, even stressing that he'll agree to any drug-testing procedure if and when the Mayweathers would insist on it should a fight between the two of them materialize in the near future.

"I am clean fighter. I get drug-tested in between, before and after fights," Khan told SkySports.

Sophisticated dopers to be aware of testers

The battle to keep the London Olympics free from drugs has begun even before the opening ceremony next July.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain's largest drugmaker, has offered a sophisticated laboratory that is ready and waiting.

From Reuters.com:

"We have a state-of-the-art facility, we have the best detection systems going, we're right up to date with the science, and if athletes know you've got good testing and good detection systems, it really has a deterrent effect," said David Cowan, head of the Drug Control Centre at King's College London and the man who will oversee London 2012's anti-doping regime.
His staff, which he has expanded to include eight times as many scientists as he would normally have, are aiming to conduct more than 5,000 tests at the London Olympics - roughly one for every two of the 10,000 or so athletes expected to take part.
As the science of detecting doping advances, athletes who cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs are devising ever more sophisticated doping regimes.

The drugs of choice for cheats, usually, vary from anabolic steroids to human growth hormone, blood boosters like erythropoietin (EPO), beta-blockers and stimulants, or diuretics.

Positive tests during schools' rugby tournament

School boys, as young as 17-year-olds, have tested positive for anabolic steroids at the recent Craven Week schools’ rugby tournament.

This was revealed after doping control tests and the school boys could face bans of up to two years from sport.

From Timeslive.co.za:

Galant says that 4 boys tested positive for the banned steroids. “Out of the four positives, two results also showed high levels of testosterone and these tests have been sent off for further analysis to Germany to verify whether the levels of testosterone are due to external sources, or naturally produced by the body.
"Only if the tests confirm that indeed the source of testosterone is from outside of the athlete’s body, will a doping case be opened.”
He says that one positive result is a lot, therefore four positives translates into an 8.5% positive result, which is a serious cause for concern.

Khalid Galant, CEO of the Institute for Drug-Free Sport, said, “The Craven Week school tournament is known to be the hunting ground for talent scouts looking to find best new players for their provinces.”

Craven Week stunned by doping scandal

The CEO of the Institute for Drug-Free Sport, Khalid Galant, has confirmed that drug tests of four schoolboys have returned positive in Craven Week.

The four schoolboys cannot be named as they are still minors.

From Ecr.co.za:

CEO of the Institute for Drug-Free Sport, Khalid Galant, confirmed on Wednesday that the drug tests of four schoolboys, who can't be named because they are still minors, have returned positive.

This was after tests were carried out on 47% of those that took part in the tournament in Kimberley, at the end of June.

Galant went on to say that out of the four positives, two results also showed high levels of testosterone, and these have been sent for further analysis in Germany, to determine whether they were due to external sources or were naturally produced by the body.

The schoolboys who tested positive for anabolic steroids could face two-year bans from sport.