With the Albany Times-Union the lead newspaper, a deluge of stories out there today. This Times-Union piece follows the Internet bust yesterday of Signature Pharmacy in Orlando. The next few days will be exciting for a number of people:
More than two dozen doctors, pharmacists and business owners have been, or will be, arrested in the coming days in Alabama, Texas, Florida and New York on sealed indictments charging them with various felonies for unlawfully distributing steroids and other controlled substances, records show.
Also repeated, the name of Gary Matthews Jr., the physicians for the Steelers, etc. How did those names surface?
The cop who held the press conference confessed ignorance (!) of the pharmacies athletes; however he was lecturing the gathered crowd on the dangers of steroids.
"I don't know the names of a lot of the athletes," Lt. Carl Metzger, commander of the Orlando Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, said during Tuesday's raid.
"This is a criminal investigation, not an administrative investigation," Metzger told a gaggle of TV reporters at the scene. "I think that some of their business was legitimate," he said, adding that "much of it was illegal."
In a news release, Orlando police said the raid targeted steroids and human growth hormone. "People forget about the damage steroids can cause," Metzger said. "It goes all the way down to the high school level."
The Times-Union states the following on the Steelers doctor:
The physician, Richard A. Rydze, who won a silver medal in platform diving in the 1972 Olympics, told the investigator the drugs were for his private patients, according to a person briefed on the interview. Rydze is an internist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He also is a consulting physician for the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration.
There are no allegations Rydze violated any laws. Many doctors are allowed under Pennsylvania rules to order and dispense prescription drugs. But investigators in New York said his orders of testosterone piqued their interest because of the large volume, his position with an NFL team and because he allegedly used a personal credit card.
"The doctors pretty much have rein to do anything they want," said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
All physicians lawfully can dispense drugs. Almost none do. Zip. Zero. And several hundred dollars of HGH or steroids would be unprecedented. There are DEA regulations stating what can be done with these substances.
The DEA is quote happy to harass a physician who prescribes too much methadone for a patient. According to the article, though, a physician who quite likely is prescribing HGH to NFL players i outside the law. Weird.
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