sez the nyt:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/nyregion/14albany.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin Prominent Entertainers Cited in Steroids Inquiry
By BRUCE LAMBERT Published: January 14, 2008 Entertainers including the singer Mary J. Blige and the rapper 50 Cent are among thousands of people whose names are turning up in an investigation into obtaining steroids or human growth hormones, an Albany newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Times Union reported that the investigation, being conducted by the Albany County district attorney, P. David Soares, also found evidence that in addition to Ms. Blige and 50 Cent, other possible recipients included two other musicians, Wyclef Jean and Timbaland, and Tyler Perry, an author, actor and producer in theater, film and television.
The newspaper cited records it had gotten and information from witnesses on Long Island who were cooperating with the investigation. A spokeswoman for Mr. Soares declined to comment on the report on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Blige, Karynne Tencer, said: “Mary J. Blige has never taken any performance-enhancing illegal steroids.” Ms. Tencer added that Ms. Blige had not taken any antiaging steroids either.
Representatives for the others were not immediately available for comment.
None of the celebrities was accused of violating the law. Instead, the investigation has focused on stopping the flow of the drugs by cracking down on doctors who illegally prescribe them without seeing patients, and on the so-called anti-aging clinics, pharmacies and other distributors that supply the drugs.
Since it became public nearly a year ago, the Albany inquiry has led investigators to suppliers in New York, Florida and Texas. To date, 10 defendants have pleaded guilty to various charges.
The Albany investigation has given a glimpse into how steroids and growth hormone have flourished into a multibillion-dollar underground industry with an international supply chain, law enforcement authorities say.
Major League Baseball has been rocked by a scandal over players’ use of steroids or growth hormone to enhance their performance. Other athletes have used the drugs, and the Albany investigation has also turned up New York City police officers among the recipients, some apparently using the drugs for bodybuilding.
While professional athletes have been the most frequently cited illicit users of the drugs, the report suggests that show-business celebrities also have resorted to them. For entertainers, the appeal of the drugs may be their reputed — but scientifically unproven — antiaging effects.
Medical experts say the drugs have legitimate uses for certain conditions, like promoting growth in stunted youngsters with hormone deficiencies. But misuse of the drugs can be harmful, causing physical and psychological damage, the experts say.
Steroids are regulated as controlled substances, but growth hormone is not. Proposed legislation would reclassify growth hormone and more tightly restrict its use.
Citing information from witnesses cooperating in the investigation, The Times Union said that drugs were shipped to celebrities, sometimes under pseudonyms, at their homes, studios and hotels and through the Clay Fitness Club and Spa on West 14th Street in Manhattan and the director of its antiaging and longevity program, Dr. Michael Diamond, a chiropractor from Long Island. He declined to comment because of patient confidentiality, the newspaper said.
The Clay Club and Dr. Diamond’s Long Island office were closed on Sunday night, and there was no listing for a home phone.
According to The Times Union, records showed that prescriptions for Ms. Blige and other performers were signed by Dr. Gary Brandwein, an osteopath from Florida. He has been charged with felony drug violations in the Albany investigation and has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Terence L. Kindlon of Albany, declined to comment Sunday night.
Last February, the Albany investigation conducted raids of the Signature Compounding Pharmacy in Orlando, Fla., and a wellness center in Palm Beach, in connection with the suspected sale of millions of dollars of steroids. People involved in operating those businesses were indicted and are awaiting trial.
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 15:32 (eighteen years ago)
ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mary j?????????
my money, my my my money long, I black out and break a bat on yo ass like Barry Bonds
― Alex in Baltimore, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:39 (eighteen years ago)
Timbo has been looking a lot beefier of late. I'm not going to make any obvious jokes regarding Mary J's level of femininity.
― chap, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:41 (eighteen years ago)
dr. dre escapes
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 15:42 (eighteen years ago)
umm that sucks. i don't like the idea that mary j is doing that. scary.
― Surmounter, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:44 (eighteen years ago)
lol Tyler Perry?????
― HI DERE, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:46 (eighteen years ago)
all of these people have gotten notably thicker-looking, haven't they?
― gabbneb, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:54 (eighteen years ago)
i mean 50 has always been jacked but wyclef + mary j just look like average in-shape famous ppl i think
timbo yes
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 15:57 (eighteen years ago)
wyclef got bald pretty fast
― gabbneb, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:58 (eighteen years ago)
i don't know mary j does look a little thick. i mean when you look at her you're a little like, wow, what's goin on there?
― Surmounter, Monday, 14 January 2008 15:59 (eighteen years ago)
So roids isn't short for haemorrhoids then? Interesting.
― StanM, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:00 (eighteen years ago)
singers often seek out prednisone which is a quick fix for vocal fatigue & is a steroid
― J0hn D., Monday, 14 January 2008 16:05 (eighteen years ago)
I'm still back on Medea Benchpresses A Buick.
― HI DERE, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:07 (eighteen years ago)
"I don't want to be lean and cut. I want to be buck," says Timbaland during an otherwise quiet evening at his mansion. "I just like that look. When you see horses, or animals, like you see a monkey or a gorilla, like, they cut.
"It's a freaky look. When you keep working out, you get to be almost like an animal," he continues. "I like the veins popping out. I love all that."
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2005-04-07/news/organic-produce/
― r|t|c, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:12 (eighteen years ago)
lol I hope he ate the reporter
― HI DERE, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:15 (eighteen years ago)
"I heard the bitch got hit with three zebras and a monkey, I can’t stand the bitch no way"
― Alex in Baltimore, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:17 (eighteen years ago)
have it on quite good authority craig david definitely is on some sort of roidage
...
what, i do
― r|t|c, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:20 (eighteen years ago)
He was much better when he was just fat.
(xpost - Timbaland, that is)
― chap, Monday, 14 January 2008 16:20 (eighteen years ago)
un Gallon-O-Purp Fat Timbo
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:33 (eighteen years ago)
unban Gallon-O-Purp Fat Timbo
Does this mean they aren't eligible for the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame?
― Mark Rich@rdson, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:42 (eighteen years ago)
hahaha
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:43 (eighteen years ago)
haha xp
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:43 (eighteen years ago)
No, really?
http://www.therundown.tv/wp-content/photos/TIMBALAND.jpg
― Eric H., Monday, 14 January 2008 19:45 (eighteen years ago)
I don't get why they would be illegal anyway. You can inject dangerous bacteria in your face, undergo life-threatening surgery to cut away part of your body - are steroids that much more dangerous?
― Mark Rich@rdson, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:49 (eighteen years ago)
are steroids that much more dangerous?
Some, yes.
― Mr. Goodman, Monday, 14 January 2008 19:58 (eighteen years ago)
I eagerly await being entertained by a cadre of genetically modified freaks. there's no stopping it anyway, it IS going to happen, no matter what's legislated as illegal.
― Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:00 (eighteen years ago)
monoids cardioids stereoids dolbioids quadrophonoids surroundoids homeboids
(nevermind, just trying to see if there's any jokes in there)
― StanM, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:02 (eighteen years ago)
this is a terrible, terrible sentence:
Certainly, in the late Nineties, P. Diddy and Timbaland took the idea of "hosting" a record -- ladling their own vocal ad-libs and trademark sounds (i.e., Timbaland's double-beat) onto someone else's track to make it hotter -- to the next level.
― Jordan, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:08 (eighteen years ago)
i'm REALLY surprised busta didn't make the list.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:10 (eighteen years ago)
-- M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, January 14, 2008 2:10 PM (4 seconds ago) Bookmark Link
― deej, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:10 (eighteen years ago)
he might not be a big enough star
metaphorically
― deej, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:11 (eighteen years ago)
xpost to mark rich@:
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 20:41 (eighteen years ago)
Ah, OK.
― Mark Rich@rdson, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:42 (eighteen years ago)
Have you seen Busta lately? I think someone told him banana cream pies and steroids do the same thing.
― HI DERE, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:45 (eighteen years ago)
yeah he looks pretty pumped up, not fat though.
ja rule was pretty cock d in that newest video of his
― M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:47 (eighteen years ago)
from idolator:
"Between August 2005 and January 2007 Blige allegedly received multiple shipments from an Orlando pharmacy of Jentropin, a human growth hormone, and Oxandrolone, an anabolic steroid, in orders sent to her at the Beverly Hills Hotel, MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and Clay Gym in New York City.
At least one of the orders was mailed under the name "Marlo Stanfield," which is the character name of a drug kingpin on the Baltimore-based HBO crime drama "The Wire." "[50 Cent] is alleged to have received shipments of steroids at his mansion in Farmington, Conn. in July 2006 an order was mailed to his residence under the name "Michael Jordan" and also at a residence on Oakmont Drive in Los Angeles. Steroids in his name also were mailed to the office of a Long Island chiropractor."
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 20:51 (eighteen years ago)
meanwhile wyclef just had them shipped in his own name lol
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 20:53 (eighteen years ago)
lol @ using marlo stanfield
― Jordan, Monday, 14 January 2008 20:57 (eighteen years ago)
would love this advocate of the natural path to hugeness to pull a
http://a280.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/113/l_d95b660f7dbf86234b42227a025297ef.gif
― deej, Monday, 14 January 2008 23:36 (eighteen years ago)
i thought that was randy jackson for a sec
― J0rdan S., Monday, 14 January 2008 23:44 (eighteen years ago)
how long before american idol steroids expose??
― deej, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 00:04 (eighteen years ago)
Is that Bobby Brown?
― The Reverend, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 00:57 (eighteen years ago)
is the argument here that this gives them some sort of competitive advantage over skinny rappers?
― forksclovetofu, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 01:04 (eighteen years ago)
its b sigel!! thats his quote about kanye and pharrels fashion choices
― deej, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 01:23 (eighteen years ago)
pharrells
Mary J - awesome
― milo z, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 01:49 (eighteen years ago)
Have any of you guys tried 'roids?
― Mark Rich@rdson, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 01:53 (eighteen years ago)
It was B-12 and Lidocaine.
― Andy K, Tuesday, 15 January 2008 02:02 (eighteen years ago)