Orange County Considered a Prime Target for Steroid Use

Law enforcement and education officials battling steroid use say Orange County is a “prime target” for illegal activity involving the body-building chemical.

The state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, which is conducting a dozen investigations statewide into illegal trafficking and sales of anabolic steroids, has two active cases under way in Orange County.

Joe Doane, chief of the state narcotics bureau, said the high concentration of health clubs and the abundance of money makes the county a “prime target” for illegal steroid activity.

Coaches, school administrators and police officials across the county say the experimentation with steroids is in full bloom. Taking steroids--synthetic male hormones sold as pills or injectable liquids--has become the fastest shortcut to a rippling physique, the new wave in fitness.

Easy to Buy

One undercover agent boasted recently that he could walk into any county gym or health club and make a steroid buy within a few hours. Coaches and trainers tell similar stories of steroid availability at county schools.

“Any high school kid in Orange County can find someone on his campus who can help him get steroids,” said Chip Marchbank, an athletic trainer at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. “It’s very accessible.”

Although it is illegal to use or sell steroids without a prescription, the supply has been able to keep up with the demand because Orange County is only a 2-hour drive from Mexico, a major pipeline for black-market steroids consumed in Southern California.

Against a backdrop of increased steroid trafficking, officials with the state narcotics bureau recently briefed agents on the issue, a first for the agency.

State narcotics investigators are also conducting at least two investigations in the county, including one centering on a county physician who is prescribing steroids to body builders, said J. D. Miles, special agent in charge of the Orange field office for the state narcotics bureau.

One of the first cases prosecuted under stricter laws governing steroid use in California was in Orange County. A year ago, five county residents pleaded guilty or no contest to a series of drug charges stemming from a lengthy investigation into a steroid manufacturing lab in Fountain Valley. Jeffrey A. Feliciano, principal owner of the lab, was sentenced to 3 years’ probation and a year in County Jail.

Education officials also say Orange County elementary school students--already being targeted in the county’s war on drugs--will eventually be informed about the dangers of steroids. School administrators are scheduled to meet in January to discuss how best to educate students about steroids.

Not a Lot Written About It

“It is indeed a problem in the schools,” said Bill Habermehl, assistant superintendent of the Orange County Department of Education. “Trouble is, it’s a bit like AIDS. There just has not been a lot written about steroids that is appropriate for students or teachers.”

In Sacramento, steroid opponents say they are prepared to introduce new legislation early next year that would require gyms and health clubs to post steroid warnings. They also want steroids to be classified as dangerous drugs, requiring physicians who prescribe them to automatically notify state officials.

“It’s time to play hardball with steroid users and dealers,” said Kathy Lynch, a Sacramento lobbyist who founded Steroids Out of Sports. Her group drafted current laws that make possession of the drug in any form without a prescription a misdemeanor, punishable by 6 months in jail. Possession of the drug for sale is now a felony, carrying penalties up to 6 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.

“California must take the lead on this issue,” said Lynch, who is also a registered nurse. “The dream of being big and tan and beautiful is alive and well here. . . . Unfortunately, steroids are becoming a part of that dream.”

A national survey published earlier this month by the Journal of the American Medical Assn. estimated that 7% of high school senior boys had used steroids, most of them obtained illegally through friends or dealers.

Forest S. Tennant of West Covina, an expert in drug treatment, said he began to see widespread steroid use among adolescents 4 years ago. He said the figures in the recent steroid survey are not only believable, “but in Southern California I think they are higher.”

In some communities, he said, there is little or no use. But in others, he said, “it’s an epidemic. As long as 4 years ago, I had substantiated reports of parents and coaches giving steroids to Little League baseball players and Pop Warner football players.”

News reports in recent years, however, have accentuated the many risks of using steroids--acne, sterility, internal bleeding, aggression and heart and liver diseases.

Most gym and health club operators say they won’t offer advice about steroids when asked by patrons. But that doesn’t mean they oppose the drugs.

Jim Dena, who owns Samson’s Gym in Orange, took steroids when he was a competitive body builder for 8 years, raising his weight from 180 pounds to 235 pounds. He contends that the only side effect was acne on his face and neck, though he quit the drugs a 1 1/2 years ago because he was having trouble sleeping.

If someone asks him about steroids, he said he tells them, “It’s up to you.”

But Rich Hardesty, a Garden Grove weightlifter, tells a different kind of story.

Hardesty was a steroid user for 4 years before he developed abnormal tissue growth in his chest. He ultimately had to have surgery twice to correct the problem.

“It cost me $14,000,” Hardesty said. “I wish I had never heard of the things. But it’s my own fault. I was just using the stuff on my own. I was stupid.”