[SigEp05]

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Mon Aug 1, 4:09 PM ET

ROME - Italian police seized 215,000 doses of prohibited substances as they smashed a ring that supplied steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to customers around the world, including American soldiers in
Iraq, a police official said Monday.
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The U.S. military in Iraq had no immediate comment, but the popularity of steroid abuse has long been discussed as American troops and contractors in Iraq work out in gyms set up in bases and even in the mirrored halls of one of
Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Joe Donahue, program director for the Vietnam Vets of America Foundation, who spent 16 months in Iraq — often lifting weights in the Green Zone gyms — said steroids were on offer for those who wanted them.

"I had them offered to me by an Iraqi guy who sure as hell looked like he was using them," Donahue said. "There were guys I'm pretty sure were juicing, but not a lot of them."

He said a pair of Iraqi bodybuilders known casually as "the large brothers" sold steroids and other supplements in the Green Zone building where he worked. "I can say with no equivocation, I was offered steroids," Donahue told The Associated Press.

Private security contractors told AP that steroid use also is a problem among their employees because the drugs are readily available in Iraq — as easy as buying a soda from the local stores, according to one contractor.

The police investigation in Italy began after a post office in Trieste, in northeastern Italy, reported that U.S. postal authorities in Iraq returned hundreds of packets of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs because they were improperly addressed, according to Mario Bo, head of the Trieste police department's criminal division.

He said authorities arrested two Slovenians last month when they raided an apartment in Trieste. Sasco Tacs, 30, and a 20-year-old woman, Vesna Milosevic, were charged with trafficking in prohibited substances.

The drugs had been ordered over the Internet, and Italian officials presume some reached their destinations, police said, adding that steroids were also sent to customers in Europe, North America and Australia. They estimated the ring may have had as many as 1,000 customers around the world.

Synthetic derivatives of testosterone, anabolic steroids are thought to enhance aggressiveness.

Steroids have serious side effects, encompassing both psychological disturbance and physical symptoms, such as the development of breasts in men, baldness and cancer, as well as major depression, mania and other mood problems.

Every war seems to have its drug of choice. German soldiers were said to have been given steroids during World War II to make them meaner. The stress of combat led to use of marijuana by some American soldiers fighting in Vietnam.

U.S. forces in Iraq and
Afghanistan submit to regular drug tests but are not routinely tested for steroid use, according to a report in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

In Afghanistan, U.S. Col. James Yonts said: "We do not issue steroids to soldiers for any reason, bodybuilding or whatever, other than for medical purposes. I'm not aware of any investigation or any problem of steroid use by soldiers in Afghanistan."

Beefed up U.S. soldiers are a common sight in Iraq, where many work out using makeshift gym equipment near their sleeping quarters or in elaborate gyms at large bases such as in Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

Inside one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces on the sprawling Tikrit base, a mirror-walled gym rivaling many in the West is routinely packed with heaving soldiers pumping iron on bench presses, arm curls and other equipment.

Some soldiers have questioned how some of their more rippling fellow soldiers could have built up such bulk while in a war zone, suggesting that steroid use may have been taking place. But they had no independent confirmation to back up their suspicions.

Troops and some contractors receive mail at inexpensive domestic U.S. postal rates, allowing soldiers to order almost anything online. Packages mailed from home are one of the chief smuggling routes for alcohol, which the U.S. military prohibits its soldiers from drinking.

Bo, the Trieste police official, said authorities were ready to cooperate in any international investigation, but that they had not been approached by U.S. authorities.

The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera said authorities believe the Slovenians received orders for the drugs on three Internet sites run by servers in Slovenia, Poland and Lithuania.

Italy has tough laws against the use of performance-enhancing drugs, with athletes risking prison terms if detected.

___

Medical writer Emma Ross in London and correspondents Jim Krane in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Paul Garwood in Cairo and Dan Cooney in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

[Nullifidian]

Italy has laws???

I thought they changed government parties too fast to actually have any laws.

[Kristopher]

routinely packed with heaving soldiers

Oh my god, soldiers are working out? lets try and paint them in a primal, brainless manner

anabolic steroids are thought to enhance aggressiveness

Yeah, thats all they do.. enhance aggressiveness

Beefed up U.S. soldiers

As opposed to..? Hey lets make it sound like its a bad thing to be in shape...

[RobInKuwait]

Hope this attention doesn't make them start testing for steroids in Germany....that'll kill my winter bulk cycle plans.

[RobInKuwait]

Originally Posted by Nullifidian

Italy has laws???

I thought they changed government parties too fast to actually have any laws.

Actually all EU countries have strict laws. You can't legally buy juice anywhere in the EU, tho most places outside the EU have plenty for sale legally.

[BigP0ppa3]

Totally off-topic...

SigEp05 - where in NJ are you a Sig Ep? I'm a Sig Ep from Stevens Tech - NJ Alpha.

BP

[CDB]

They siezed the steroids? Come on, doesn't our government want to Support Our Troops?

[SigEp05]

Rutgers njbeta

Good to see you here bro (literally ). Hit up my AIM - ScarletKCP.

[Watcher]

IMO if our men and women are over there putting their lives on the line they should be able to do as they wish with their bodies as long as it doesn't jeapordize the lives of those around them.

[Redeemer]

I agree. Un F**CKing believeable. I know that a more muscular, stronger, agressive, and focused soldier is a better soldier. Don't act like you give a crap about his/her safety when the body armor is not even in place, but they can't take steroids of their own free will.

[tedtickle]

Maybe they should use this "opportunity" as a recruiting tool. "Yes sir thats correct, just sign on the dotted line and you can use all the steroids you want" Hopefully these soldiers have their PCT covered.

[CEDeoudes59]

Certainly the liberals have done us a favor by preventing our servicemen from developing 'roid rage'.

[foo.c]

Originally Posted by CEDeoudes59

Certainly the liberals have done us a favor by preventing our servicemen from developing 'roid rage'.

Only liberals are on the steroid witch hunt?

[Redeemer]

Originally Posted by tedtickle

Hopefully these soldiers have their PCT covered.

I love that

[natedogg]

I would hope the military in Iraq would have more important things to worry about then steroid cycles and getting big.

[Malek256]

Well, come on guys -- they are just trying to avoid the soldiers getting hurt...

"Whoops, almost let those bad drugs through that could hurt you! Um, come over here and get shot at instead..."

[natedogg]

Originally Posted by Malek256

"Whoops, almost let those bad drugs through that could hurt you! Um, come over here and get shot at instead..."

Actually, I'd be more worried about road side bombs and suicide bombers.

[not_big_enuf]

bah, steroids are WAY more of a threat than any of THAT

Originally Posted by natedogg

Actually, I'd be more worried about road side bombs and suicide bombers.