I was more of a mind altering substances drug guy, so I didn't really follow the whole steroid illegality situation to the same extent that I studied the impact of Drug Warriors on my own field. However I did do time with a guy who assured me that he was the first person ever imprisoned in this country for selling steroids, and I did see some verification of that along the way. I'm going to search the deep dark drug addled recesses of my memory and come up with a date of around 1990 on that.
Later there were a few others here and there. I'll give these guys credit for one thing though. Unlike lots of guys who only hit the iron pile after coming inside, they were pretty fit looking dudes right from day one.
And, hey, Lyle Alzado did do himself in early juicing so of course the need to protect people from themselves is obviously urgent enough to just go ahead and lock them away from all temptation. You cynics may call this policy "War on Drugs" but I'd be willing to bet you that the Drug War Commander In Chief labels it "compassionate conservatism".
The amounts of pot mentioned in my federal indictment and testified about in my criminal trial were in the multiple semi trailer load quantity. It’s like “a single joint or even a single ounce is basically harmless but when one gets to the point of having enough to sell a joint to several million people, well that’s different”. Yeah it’s different! Helping a million people get mellow is obviously a greater service to society than helping only a couple of thousand to do so.
Notice that there is never any mention of decriminalization to the benefit of the recreational cocaine user? Still, the same general principles should apply. Many people do the stuff. Some have a personal problem. Or as we used to say "it's not that he likes the blow, it's that the blow likes him".
And what can't humans hurt themselves with if we like something enough to take it to extremes? Out here in wintertime Utah we have folks who just have to get a rush off of snowmobiles. Many go overboard financially. Some are hurt by the things. A few die. No one advocates throwing people in prison for buying or using them even though the clear motivation in many instance is enjoyment of the endorphins produced from snowmobile use.
Hell, Olympic Gold Medal Greco-roman wrestler Rulon Gardener went overboard and ended his athletic career with frost bite when he got his snowmobile stranded overnight. When was the last time you heard of a snowmobile dealer being prosecuted?
“Well. what about the kids? We need to protect them from cocaine." Guess what! I'll bet you more kids get killed from playing on or around motorized recreational vehicles every year than from cocaine
Oh, that's right! It's white kids on the machines/toys, and black kids on the coke, so that's different.
Legalize it all now! Get the government out of our bodies, and our bodies out of government prisons!