Section A · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, April 1, 1998
Searches slow students
James, a friend and I head into an out-of-the-way pharmacy in search of steroids. We crossed the border into Matamoros, Mexico, during spring break to find out how easy it would be to bring them back into the United States. Photo by Gerry Dovle/KANSAN
Continued from page 1A
Crossing the border
"NAFTA makes it tougher for these inspectors to pull over every truck and make a thorough search," he said. "While one is being caught, two or three are slipping through undetected."
This means that someone carry-ing only enough of an illegal substance for recreational use has a good chance of sliding through undetected.
The second time I walked across.
The next day I went to Mexico twice to shop for some clothes and cheap alcohol. The first time I drove across the border. There was no search. I only had to pay a $2 tax on a bottle of tequila.
Now I was terrified.
As we made our way through customs, two in our group of five were singled out to be searched. I was one of them.
Two U.S. Border Patrol agents escorted me to a small room. It looked a little like a doctor's examining room, only more frightening. I saw a box of latex gloves in the corner.
One agent guarded the door as another, looking a little too pleased with his job, told me to empty my pockets and stand against the wall.
Then he put his hand down the back of my shorts and goosed me. I jumped.
He did not answer. He only told me to spread my legs.
Then he reached between my legs, got a good grip and pulled hard.
I looked at the box of gloves. "It could be worse." I told myself.
Satisfied I had nothing hidden in my shorts, he finished patting me down, let me collect my stuff and told me I could go.
If I had been hiding anything, he would have found it.
Mancha said that people going through customs were not singled out for searches randomly. Agents search everyone who fits a certain profile. Customs officials also search people based on information gathered by lookouts.
"Just like any other law enforcefor a return to Mexico.
Although the student population swells during the spring, college students crossing the border are not a DEA priority, Mansaw said.
"I don't think it's a situation where students are bringing truckloads across," he said.
James did not buy any steroids during our trip, but the last time I talked to him, he was taking orders
"I in one trip I could clear $4,000," he told me. "I know I could get that stuff across so easy. So many people will buy that stuff when I get back."
"What about the border?" I asked him. "Remember how they searched me?"
"That's too much easy cash to pass up," he said as he drove away.
He was not worried. If he drove across, he was sure it would not be a problem.
Pictures of body builders sporting massive physiques adorn his office walls.
By Carl Kaminski
ckaminski at kansan.con
Kansan staff writer
Steroid side effects outweigh easy buys south of the border
"That one was me," he says, pointing to an immense figure spreading a back with muscles the size of Thanksgiving turkeys
This Lawrence trainer, a heavy set man who could never pass as an athlete, was once one of the top bodybuilders in the country.
That was when he used steroids.
He took them because he just was not big enough. Even after he took them, he still did not think he was big enough.
"Back then, I never saw how big I was," he says.
He takes another look at the picture.
"I was huge."
He used steroids for 17 years before he was busted in 1991. Today, he runs a successful business in Lawrence.
"Please don't use my name," the trainer requested before granting an interview.
When he was arrested for possession of steroids, he lost his business and his reputation. He fears the same thing could happen again.
This devastation does not stop some students from searching for the key to the perfect body, sometimes spending up to $1,000 for an eight-week cycle of steroids.
The reclassification of steroids has changed the way athletes get them, and from where the steroids come. This has made the precarious business of steroids even more risky.
A Lawrence narcotics officer said that students go to South Padre Island during spring break and buy steroids in nearby Mexico. Steroids are legal in Mexico with a prescription, but are a controlled substance in the United States.
Sgt. George Wheeler of the Lawrence Police Department said that most of what people get in Mexico was trash, but that it still
"If they are bringing back that kind of stuff, then we'll arrest them," he said. "We have in the past."
was illegal.
The narcotics officer said catching steroid users was tough.
"People that get steroids usually do not actively push them," he said. "It's a real small clique. The only things we can pursue are those we get tips on. We just don't get a lot of tips on that sort of thing."
Wheeler said that catching steroid users was tough and that Lawrence was not a point of entry.
"Our plates are kind of full with what we've got," he said.
When steroid users get caught, they could face serious penalties.
Steroids became a federally controlled substance subject under the Drug Enforcement Agency's regulation after the passage of the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990.
Because the legal status of steroids changed, good, reliable doses have been hard to come across.
The best steroids come from Germany. Since the DEA began cracking down on steroid dealers in the early 1990s, the best supplies, made in the United States or Eastern Europe, have been drying up, forcing trips to Mexico.
"We used to say that the Mexican stuff was only half as good as the East German or American stuff," the trainer said. "It would only get you half the results."
That is still good enough for students who remain unsatisfied and desperate for a muscular body.
"There are still people who do them," he said. "There will always be guys who do them."
Students who dabble in the Mexican drugs are asking for trouble.
Steroids play havoc with the body's hormone levels and doses must be cycled to allow the body to recover.
A normal male body produces about 12 to 20 milligrams of testosterone each week. When the trainer was at the height of his competitive
career, he took 12 shots a week which translated to 3,500 milligrams of testosterone in the body.
At these levels the male's main producers of testosterone, the testicles, begin to shrink. If the levels persist, atrophy sets in because there is no need to produce anymore. Acne breakouts and mood swings also have been linked to extreme testosterone levels.
Randall Rock, physician and chief of staff at Watkins Memorial Health Center, would not be specific, but admitted that he had seen KU students who used steroids and had answered several questions about what could happen if they began using them.
Rock said that students who used steroids often did so out of insecurity.
"Steroids allow you to get results quicker and easier," Rock said. "You can get more defined using steroids."
Rock said that he discouraged students from spending the money to risk shooting up Sustanon, a popular steroid, or popping Sten, an oral form.
"We encourage students not to use steroids, even if they are side effect free," he said.
Students may have undetected side effects and find out down the road that they have developed severe liver damage, heart problems or even cancer.
Rock said he was concerned that steroid users placed too much emphasis on looks. Students should asses why they want to be so muscular, he said.
Rock stressed that students on steroids were always welcome to come in and ask questions without repercussions. Although steroids are illegal, Rock has a responsibility to patient confidentiality.
"They can come in without any fear that we will report them to the authorities," Rock said. "I may disapprove of what someone is doing, but that doesn't mean that I disapprove of them as a person. People need to realize that there is a difference."
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Specialty Draft Beers: $1.00! Margaritas: $1.00!
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Fri & Sat: Jumbo Souvenir Cups
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