Customs officials in San Diego desperately wanted to know “what’s Jose Canseco on now?” San Diego Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) searched and detained Canseco for over nine hours after being caught with a bottle of human chorionic goandotropin (hCG). Customs officials refused to release Canseco unless he allowed them to search his Southern California home. U.S. Customs agents searched Canseco’s home the very next day trying to find out “what’s Jose Canseco on now” but were disappointed when they did not discover any anabolic steroids.
Jose Canseco is the spokesperson for sports supplement company GAT (German American Technologies) whose ad campaigns feature a picture of Canseco with the question “what’s Jose Canseco on now?” It is unclear whether customs agents uncovered any Jet Fuel or Sonic Pump during a search of Canseco’s house (“Jose Canseco detained at Mexican border in drug bust,” October 10).
Canseco, who was with girlfriend Heidi Northcutt when his vehicle was stopped and searched and he was detained, had to sign a waiver and a consent form allowing his Los Angeles-area home to be searched by ICE agents in order for his release from custody, according to Emerson. Early Friday morning, before Canseco returned home, at least 10 ICE agents pored through Canseco’s belongings while Emerson was present.
Canseco’s attorney Greg Emerson was no doubt wondering whether U.S. Customs agents had anything more important to do than waste time investigating a bottle of the “incredibly harmless” drug hCG.
“We’re certainly hopeful he will not be charged with anything,” Emerson said of his client’s court appearance next week. “This is an incredibly harmless drug. We’re not talking about morphine or cocaine possession. Why he attracted so much attention is a bit of a mystery.
“I think that ICE had to try and legitimize 9-1/2 hours of detention, so they said, ‘If we don’t try to stick something to this guy, it’s going to look really bad.’ The ICE agents found nothing in Jose’s home. Really, in the big scheme of things, this has nothing to do with baseball or steroid use.”
Of course, our government has nothing more important than wasting time investigating a former baseball player in possession of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Maybe San Diego Customs agents are John McCain supporters and do not agree with Barrack Obama’ position on anabolic steroids?
Keep in mind that HCG is not even an anabolic steroid; it is simply an ancillary drug used in conjunction with other performance enhancing drugs (and of course demonized along with steroids).
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.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.