OFF THE WIRE
BY: Millard Baker
steroids.info
Outlaw motorcycle gangs have become increasingly involved in the illegal black market distribution of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs according to law enforcement officials in Australia. Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis, a gang squad commander, reports that career criminals involved in biker gangs are particularly drawn to the “high profit for low penalty-risk crime” involving the steroids in the most popular state in Australia.
The penalties for steroid distribution are relatively light when compared to the illegal distribution of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin in New South Wales. Anabolic steroids are not “restricted substances” in this Australian state. “[T]he penalties aren’t the same and they are lighter penalties. Some of them will only be a 12-months [good behaviour] bond,” according to Detective Superintendent Katsogiannis.
Katsogiannis and other police officials think that New South Wales should adopt the draconian steroid policies of neighboring Victoria where steroid dealers can receive prison sentences of up to 15 years.
NSW police conveniently overlook the fact that the harsher drug laws have done little to decrease the distribution of narcotic drugs in a failed war on drugs. The harsher drug policies only make the drug trade more and more lucrative for criminal motorcycle gangs involved in steroid distribution.
Australia has ramped up its war on drugs, particularly its war on steroids, at perhaps a more rapid pace than even the United States. Australia customs officials have continued to allocate additional resources to detect and intercept performance-enhancing drugs ever since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Customs detected 2,695 attempts to smuggle and/or import anabolic steroids such as testosterone into the country in 2010. This number increased 75% from a year earlier.
Source:
Ralston, N. (July 30, 2011). Illegal steroids a lucrative and burgeoning black market business for bikies, say police. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au
