The Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force arrested three individuals after a six-month investigation into steroid distribution at Dynabody Fitness, a commercial gym in Oxford, Alabama. The task force seems to be taking advantage of federal funds to expand their traditional war on drugs to include anabolic steroids (“3 arrested in steroid bust at fitness gym,” June 18).
Lt. Chris Roberson said Wednesday the owner, Cooper Freeman of Oxford, was arrested and charged with three counts of distribution of a controlled substance and several counts of possession of controlled substances.
Roberson said the gym manager, Billy Cole of Saks, was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit a controlled substance crime and possession of a controlled substance and Freeman’s wife, Amanda, was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley awarded a $135,000 federally-funded grant to the Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force on November 25, 2008 to help fund “undercover operations and investigations of drug dealers”.
The federal funds were made available through the Department of Justice thanks to H.R. 2764 (“Consolidated Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2008”); Congressman Mike Rogers from Alabama characterized the funding as one of his top homeland security priorities for Eastern Alabama. However, Congressman Rogers seemed to think the funds would be used to rid the communities of methamphetamines instead of steroids.
It is unclear how steroids represent a threat to homeland security in spite of assertions by the United States Customs that steroids fund “terrorism, death, and addiction around the world”.
Alabama Governor Riley justified the grant due to the direct relationship between drugs and violent crime; but it seems unlikely that Governor Riley had steroids in mind when he awarded the grant (“Riley Awards Grant to Fight Drugs in Calhoun, Cleburne Counties,” November 25, 2008).
In many cases, violent crime is directly related to drugs, said Riley. I commend the members of this task force for their efforts to apprehend and prosecute drug offenders and keep the region safe for law-abiding residents.
Governor Riley may not have intended for his drug war rhetoric to apply to anabolic steroids, but law enforcement agencies are regrettably increasingly treating steroid use and distribution as equivalent to traditional drugs of abuse like cocaine, heroin and ecstasy. It is unclear how targeting steroid use at commercial gyms and fitness centers leads to safer communities.
The Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug Task Force had previously arrested a paramedic for buying steroids over the Internet in their efforts to make the community safer back in 2005. Donald Neil Cofer of Oxford was charged with “unlawful receipt of a controlled substance” and “possession of drug paraphernalia”.
Cofer was the former director of Emergency Medical Services in Cleburne County and an instructor at Gadsden State Community College who volunteered his time to represent Cleburne County Emergency Services at Cleburne County High School football games. The community of Oxford presumably became a safer place after Cofer was fired from these positions.
The Calhoun-Cleburne County Drug and Violent Crime Task Force has used an interesting analogy to elicit help from the community in their war against drugs that include Schedule III controlled substances such as anabolic steroids.
Without your assistance and information, that a drug dealer has moved into your neighborhood it is like a cancer to the community, bringing the wrong element around you and your family. Without you getting involved, the cancer spreads to a second residence, then a third.
The law-abiding citizens of Oxford must be proud that the cancer known as Dynabody Fitness has been busted with the help of taxpaying citizens around the country.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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