In 1992, Mario Carrier had won his first three amateur bodybuilding competitions on a steady diet of illegally obtained steroids, such as Winstrol and Durabolin. His “gear” came from one of two sources: connections at the gym or a horse-trainer associate who had access to veterinary supplies. But he had no one to turn to for sound medical advice in his quest to become Mr. Canada.
Then a co-worker told him about the Institute of Sports Medicine in Toronto and its founder Dr. Galea – a young physician with a near-constant smile and an open-door policy for bodybuilders. It took only one appointment for Mr. Carrier to know that he had found someone he could trust.
“He’s not going to help me get the drugs, but he’s going to help me monitor my body – the blood count, the liver count. There’s a lot of guys who weren’t doing that and I was right in with Tony,” recalled Mr. Carrier, now a personal trainer in Toronto.
Not long after connecting with Dr. Galea, Mr. Carrier joined the professional bodybuilding circuit, competing in U.S. and Canadian cities. Mr. Carrier said he consulted Dr. Galea about when to start his next cycle – the intervals, which last around three months, when steroid users adhere to a strict schedule of injections.
“I’d go and see Tony and make sure when I was going back on … if my [blood] count was right, he’d say, ‘Okay, you can go on your next cycle.’ If it was too high, he’d say, ‘Wait a while.’ You know? So I benefited greatly from that guy.”
Dr. Galea declined repeated requests for an interview but agreed to answer written questions through his lawyer. Mr. Greenspan described Dr. Galea’s approach to bodybuilders as a classic harm-reduction strategy, treating them much like drug addicts or alcoholics, but denied that he’d ever advised anyone when to start or stop a steroid cycle.
“You don’t throw them out of your office because they’re a substance abuser…,” he said. “You try to treat the medical issues that their substance abuse has created. That’s the only reason they’re in his practice, period.”
The doctor carved out a niche treating the many side effects that afflict steroid users. When their testicles shut off – a consequence of excess testosterone during a cycle – and they developed male breasts, they would turn to him for estrogen blockers.
Nelson DaSilva, a former Mr. Canada, described Dr. Galea as “awesome,” saying that as well as helping him with a torn tricep, the physician treated the “low testosterone, low sex drive” he developed once a cycle was completed.
“You go into your family doctor and say, ‘I’m taking steroids. I’m off of them now. I’m feeling some nasty side effects,’ and those doctors will say, ‘Well, you did it to yourself. Go home. It will wear off.’ He would actually tell you what to do.”
