University Network

Seven months of house arrest and fine of $5,000 has been imposed on Perry Gustav Moore, 45, of Glace Bay, N.S., for his role in a Fredericton-based anabolic steroid trafficking conspiracy.

Moore was one of twenty people who were charged in connection with two-year, joint-forces drug investigation focused in Fredericton, Operation Jellybean.

From Dailygleaner.canadaeast.com:

The goal of Jellybean, which began in 2005, was to disrupt the sale of cocaine, marijuana, prescription drugs and anabolic steroids in New Brunswick.

Defence lawyer Howard Peters said Friday his client, who pleaded guilty, was only involved in selling anabolic steroids and was at the lower end of the scale in the conspiracy.

Peters said Moore was buying steroids for personal use and for sale in his gym in Glace Bay, N.S., and wasn’t selling in his community in general.

Crown prosecutor William Lebans painted a similar picture about Moore.

Moore was further ordered to pay a $750 victim-fine surcharge in addition to the $5,000 fine.

In some circles, athletic director of the University of Waterloo administered a lethal injection to the football team of his school.

Contemporaries and a Texas-based anti-doping crusader applauded Bob Copeland after he put student-athlete safety ahead of wins and losses.

From Therecord.com:

It was Copeland’s “courageous” act, to order mandatory team testing, which eventually led to an overhaul of Canadian university’s drug testing and education programs, Don Hooton said in presenting Copeland with an award.

Taylor’s Award, presented by the Taylor Hooton Foundation, acknowledges outstanding service in anti-doping education and in protecting young people from the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs.

Major League Baseball’s commissioner Bud Selig won the award in 2010.

“The easy path would have been for Bob to bury it,” said Hooton, whose son Taylor committed suicide in 2003 because of what the family calls steroid-induced depression.

Back in March 2010, Copeland was notified a UW football player had been arrested and was in possession of a large stash of anabolic steroids.

In conjunction with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, Copeland promptly ordered unprecedented team-wide testing of the Warriors.

Shot-putter Carl Fletcher has received a suspension of four years after being convicted of trafficking anabolic steroids by UK Anti-Doping.

Fletcher was sentenced to nine months in prison at Liverpool crown court for drug offences including the supply of a number of anabolic steroids, including testosterone, human growth hormone, and Trenbolone, all of which are banned under the World Anti-Doping Agency code.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Fletcher, who was provisionally suspended from all competition on 8 November, is banned from participation in sport until 7 November 2015.

The UKAD chief executive, Andy Parkinson, said the case demonstrated the extent to which it was increasingly working with law enforcement agencies, in this case including Merseyside police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

“This case proves the invaluable role that law enforcement agencies have in the fight against doping in sport and demonstrates that our intelligence system is working effectively,” he said.

“I would like to thank Merseyside police and Soca for their vital assistance in helping our intelligence team with this case. By attacking the supply chain and those that supply performance-enhancing substances, we stand a better chance of protecting the right of the clean athletes to compete in doping-free sport,” Parkinson said.

The chief executive of UK Anti-Doping, Andy Parkinson, has given his backing to the probable attempt by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for settling its increasingly bitter dispute with the world anti-doping authority at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

Parkinson stressed the need for a speedy settlement with the London Olympics eight months away.

From Independent.co.uk:

On Sunday night, Wada’s board declared the BOA’s controversial by-law that bans athletes guilty of doping offences for life was “non-compliant” with its global code. The BOA is now preparing to take its case to CAS and Parkinson believes that is the best way to resolve once and for all what is threatening to become an embarrassing issue for the Olympic host nation.

Parkinson said yesterday: “We certainly agree with the BOA that CAS is the most appropriate place to have this matter resolved. If we can get it done as quickly as possible then we have got some clarity for everyone involved going into 2012. What we need is for CAS to make a definitive ruling on it then we can all progress forward.”

Parkinson said: “We’ve supported Wada through our short life [UKAD was formed in 2009] every step of the way. It has made a huge difference and had a huge impact on the world of anti-doping.”

The last-minute withdrawal of some of the best Jamaican horses from the December 3 Caribbean National Racing Challenge raceday at Santa Rosa Park in Trinidad and Tobago has sparked off a firestorm of criticism about drug testing in local racing.

In addition to the Trinidadian runners, 18 local horses were nominated at various stages for the rich race meet that attracted entries from Jamaica, Barbados, and St Lucia.

From Jamaica-gleaner.com:

Lloyd Cobran, manager of racing at the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC), on Monday confirmed that all nominations were intact up to last Tuesday.

However, on Wednesday morning only six remained, three of which, sources claimed, were local-bred two-year-olds owned by Trinidadians and hitching a ride to their new home.

Only three Jamaican horses, from an initial 15, will actually race in Trinidad on December 3.

Dr Paul Wright, owner’s representative for the three horses who will race in Trinidad and Tobago, remarked steroids use is rampant at Caymanas Park.

Jirí Dvorák, the medical chief of FIFA, has called on anti-doping authorities not to take too hard a line against clenbuterol.

Dvorák said authorities must be more understanding about how and why the substance gets into the body.

From Insideworldfootball.biz:

Last month, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) performed a U-turn by abandoning its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against FIFA’s refusal to punish five Mexican footballers who had tested positive for clenbuterol prior to the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Antônio Naelson, Christian Bermúdez, Édgar Dueñas, Francisco Javier Rodríguez and Guillermo Ochoa were sent home by Mexico after they were found to have failed a drugs test at a training camp.

It was later discovered by the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) that they tested positive as a result of eating chicken contaminated with clenbuterol.

More than 100 players from various countries tested at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Mexico this summer after eating contaminated meat and traces of clenbuterol showed up in their urine samples.

According to investigators from the Jewish General Hospital’s Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research (LDI) in Montreal, inhaling corticosteroids can elevate chances of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Findings of the study suggested asthmatics and those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) taking corticosteroids may be at a considerable risk.

From Healthjockey.com:

Dr. Samy Suissa, Director of the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology at the LDI, and lead investigator, highlighted, “These are not insubstantial numbers. Over a large population the absolute numbers of affected people are significant. We recommend that physicians reserve the use of inhaled steroids for the patients who truly benefit from these medications, namely asthmatics, and curb their use in COPD to the few patients for whom they are indicated. In all cases, patients using high doses should be assessed for possible hyperglycemia and the lowest effective dose targeted.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Medicine.

After a police investigation that netted more than $5 million in narcotics recently, seven people were arrested in Cambridge.

According to a press release issued by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the operation was “targeting members and associates of (an) outlaw motorcycle gang, specifically the Hells Angels Kitchener, Ontario chapter.”

From Cambridgetimes.ca:

The joint, four-month investigation involved the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police Biker Enforcement Unit and Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau, and Waterloo Regional Police Service, and culminated in multiple search warrants in Cambridge, Waterloo and New Hamburg.

Police seized five kilograms of cocaine valued at $5 million, 263 marijuana plants, three pounds of marijuana, three vehicles and $132,000 in cash.

Facing numerous charges related to drug trafficking and other drug-related activities are Larry Chaves, 32, Julie Chaves, 36, Meng Troeung, 40, Brian Galway, 40, Colleen Galway, 41, Patrick Ezekeil, 56, and Rita Galway, 62.

Police seized $50,000 and some anabolic steroids in addition to the arrest of two suspects.

According to a team from the University of California, corticosteroids showed a neutral response to eye ulcers when considered cumulatively.

These steroids are expected to aid patients who were infected with more severe kinds of bacterial corneal ulcers.

From Healthjockey.com:

The team observed that steroid therapy apparently showed some enhancement of vision in persons afflicted with serious form of ulcers. There is a controversy surrounding the use of topical corticosteroids in the ophthalmology front. Some of the areas of concern include corneal perforation and deterioration of vision.

“We consider this finding very significant; it’s a clinically meaningful difference. Although secondary to the study’s original purpose, the results in severe cases were identified early on, so we didn’t start doing all of these analyses after the fact. It was of interest. So I think there is something there,” commented the paper’s co-author NishaAcharya, MD, MS, associate professor and director of the Uveitis Service in the UCSF Department of Ophthalmology.

The findings are published in the journal, Archives of Ophthalmology.

A federal judge sentenced a steroids dealer who said he had a plan to kill police officers to five years and one month in prison on federal drug and gun charges.

Damon Bruce Beshears, 38, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, according to a plea deal Beshears had reached with prosecutors in August.

From Statesman.com:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Marshall said that he agreed to the deal presented by Beshears’ lawyer in part because Beshears has a history of mental illness — he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital about two months before his arrest in June.

“I talked to the officers who were involved and their impression was he was more of a danger to himself than to them,” Marshall said.

Beshears’ lawyer, Joe Lopez, said his client’s mental health has drastically improved since his arrest.

“The steroids, in combination with the other medication that he takes, I think, just drove him nuts,” Lopez said. “He was a prisoner in his own body.

“I can totally tell now that the steroids are not a part of his life; he’s completely a changed person,” Lopez said.