In this issue of Elite Fitness News, I would like to share with you some of the latest news on the hundreds of Internet dealers, bodybuilders, and other athletes that have been busted in the recent anabolic steroid and GHB crackdowns known as Operation Webslinger. I'll also share with you the story of Todd Roberts and Michael Toback, who got caught in the GHB stings, then went head to head with the DEA in the courts and won - making the Feds look like fools. And I'll tell you about three tools you can use to stay beyond the reach of the long arm of the law and why you must start using them right now.

Operation Webslinger

"Our campuses, our neighborhoods and our communities are safer places for young women today because cyberspace just got more dangerous for drug traffickers," said Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Dubbed Operation Webslinger, the two-year investigation targeted leaders and midlevel brokers of Internet drug-trafficking rings who operated Web sites that advertised GHB and its derivatives as industrial cleaning products. Online orders were delivered by mail. This was the first federal investigation of Internet traffickers of GHB.

GHB is Gamma hydroxybutyrate. GHB has been around for years, but in 1999, it took Rohypnol's place when it became known as the date rape drug. Bodybuilders have long been interested in GHB for promoting restorative sleep and for its possible growth hormone (GH) release connection. In the last year a great deal of new research has been done on GHB that indicates that at controlled dosages, its side effects are practically non-existent and that there is definitely a connection between GHB and GH release.

Under federal law, people can be prosecuted if they sell GHB-related drugs for human consumption. However, you may remember that a few months ago in Elite Fitness News, I told you about the new pharmaceutical GHB from Orphan Medical that is now sold under the brand name Xyrem. (More on Xyrem)

Although GHB is very easily and cheaply manufactured, for better or worse, the FDA gave the drug companies permission to study GHB for sale as a pharmaceutical and the DEA is arresting anyone selling it as a supplement. In essence, GHB went from being an inexpensive and effective sleep aid that had been available as an OTC or as a gray market supplement and re-regulated it for the benefit of the drug companies.
In May of 1999, our friends at the FDA recommended that GHB become a Schedule I Controlled Substance. In September of that year, the House of Representatives voted 423 to 1, and the Senate voted unanimously in favor of the FDA's recommendations. And by November, the Drug Enforcement Agency was treating GHB just like heroin and other Schedule I drugs. In early 2000, President Clinton signed the legislation.
Around this time, Orphan Medical, a drug company in Minneapolis, began research into using GHB for the treatment of narcolepsy. They developed a medically formulated GHB product and given it the brand name Xyrem. Although certainly motivated by profit, Orphan Medical has conducted several studies that indicate that GHB or Xyrem should not be a demonized Schedule I drug. Their research further indicates that GHB is relatively safe and can be an effective treatment for sleep disorders. Please click here to read all about pharmaceutical GHB - Xyrem and how it can help you recover faster from a muscle-building workout. (More on Xyrem)

Please forgive the digression... Back to Todd Roberts and Michael Toback.

Roberts and Toback ran a health food store. In the case The United States of America against Todd Roberts and Michael Toback, both defendants, Roberts and Toback, were indicted for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute 1,4-butanediol, which the government alleged was an analogue of the Schedule I controlled substance gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB). The defendants moved to dismiss the indictment - and against enormous odds, they succeeded, and the indictment was dismissed.

My friend, attorney Rick Collins, represented Roberts, and the Judge's decision (Judge Sweet) mirrors Collins' briefs on the issues. It is extremely rare when a judge dismisses a federal criminal indictment, but it is even more unheard of when he does it by declaring a law unconstitutional. But that's what just happened.

Specifically, Judge Sweet held that the Analogue Statute is unconstitutionally VOID for vagueness as applied to butanediol, both on grounds of notice and as to arbitrary enforcement - I'll explain what that means in a minute. Needless to say, the ruling jeopardizes prior convictions and pending cases. And throws a monkey wrench into the DEA's recent Operation Webslinger. Federal prosecutors are beside themselves, and will no doubt marshal all their might to gang up on Collins at the appellate level.

Aside from the fact that hiring a lawyer like Collins can cost thousands, his recent victory will likely mean that athletes and bodybuilders will face even more scrutiny given that the Federal Prosecutors were made to look like fools. There are three things that you must start doing now to safeguard your privacy. Please read the gray sidebar and begin doing them today.

Rick Collins specializes in criminal law and frequently defends bodybuilders. You may remember that we retained Rick Collins when we were subpoenaed in the Eric Perrin DNP ordeal. Working with Rick, we prevented the FDA from accessing our entire forum database and then sifting through our member information with forensic software. When you post on non Elite Fitness discussion boards, ask yourself if you think the owners would go to the time and expense of hiring an attorney to protect member data like IP addresses, PM's, and passwords. Or, would they just turn the database over. Just some food for thought.

Here's how Todd Roberts and Michael Toback beat the system with the help of attorney Rick Collins. Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so be sure to take advantage of the resources in the gray sidebar. It's much better to keep out of court in the first place than to have to go - even if you win.

On April 26, 2001, Roberts and Toback were indicted for conspiracy to distribute and to possess with the intent to distribute butanediol, which the Government alleges is, an analogue of the Schedule I controlled substance gamma hydroxybutyric acid ("GHB"). As explained in the Court's December 14, 2001 opinion, DEA agents had originally investigated a store operated by Toback for the sale of a product believed to be containing GHB. The product, called "Rejoov," was sold openly and was purchased by body builders to rejuvenate muscles. After DEA testing, "Rejoov" was found not to contain GHB, but rather 1,4-butanediol, the substance now claimed by the Government to be an analogue of GHB.

If the Government could prove that butanediol was an analogue of GHB, then Roberts and Toback were up the creek without a paddle.

On December 14, 2001, it was ordered that, based on the Court's interpretation of the analogue statute, a hearing must be held to determine whether the statutory definition of the term "controlled substance analogue" as applied to 1,4-butanediol is unconstitutionally vague. The hearing was held on June 17, 2001, at which both parties presented expert testimony on the chemical structures of 1,4-butanediol and GHB.

At the June 17, 2001 hearing, the two defendants and the Government presented expert witnesses who testified about the chemical structures of butanediol and GHB. The Defense called two witnesses, both credible and qualified academics with extensive credentials in organic chemistry. Toback called Dr. Boyd Haley, Chairman and Professor of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky, with a joint appointment in the College of Pharmacy. Roberts called Dr. David Schuster, Director of Graduate Studies in Chemistry at New York University and former visiting professor at Yale University. Schuster is the author of over 200 publications and holder of two patents. The Government called Dr. Tom DiBerardino, an employee of the DEA's Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section (a branch of the Office of Diversion Control) with a PhD in polymer chemistry.

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Please click here for the latest GHB Discussions on the boards. Discussion one and two.