Dominican Republic - The bodybuilder waited in an empty plaza of a gritty section of the Dominican capital, a backpack slung over his shoulder. He was antsy, not wanting to be noticed and not wanting to spend too much time in the public eye.
Two potential customers and a friend of the bodybuilder approached the man with the goods. The bodybuilder cut to the chase.
"What kind of steroids do you want? Testosterone? Animal steroids? I can get you anything you want," the bodybuilder said in a mix of Spanish and English. "Anything. I can show you how to use - you want me to show you how to inject them? We can go somewhere right now and I can show you." The bodybuilder then whipped open his backpack, revealing a stash of hypodermic needles, ready for plunging steroids into a rear end.
The bodybuilder was asked about "Boli" or Primobolan, slang for the steroid that Yankees star Alex Rodriguez admitted to using during a three-year span from 2001-03 when he played for the Texas Rangers. "I can get you Primobolan, no problem," said the bodybuilder. One 10 cc dosage of Primobolan costs $94.28 in Santo Domingo.
Several hours later, on a discreet street corner, the bodybuilder handed over a brown 10 cc vial of Primobol-100, pure Methenolone Enanthate, an amount good enough for two injections in a week's span. "This is good stuff, made in Italy," said the bodybuilder. "You shoot it straight in the ass with a needle. Anything else you need, let me know."
A-Rod failed to mention in his Tampa press conference that "Boli" cannot be legally purchased in Dominican pharmacies, as many other steroids can be.
According to a Sports Illustrated report, Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone in 2003, a claim Rodriguez has not denied. While testosterone and other hard-core steroids are available in Dominican pharmacies without a prescription, it is illegal to sell Primobolan in the D.R. (it is banned in the United States), although prosecution is virtually non-existent. Steroid users have to obtain the drug through a dealer or from protein and supplement stores that offer a wide range of steroids, and most do so without fear of violating the law. Dominican authorities aren't known to conduct investigations into steroid use or distribution at local gyms, which is one reason use is so prevalent.
At the Santo Domingo supplement store Gurabo, owned by Dominican bodybuilder Victor Martinez, anyone can walk in and purchase steroids, protein powders and supplements. On a recent afternoon, the store was teeming with customers, everyone from ripped gym rats to scrawny young men. Photographs of Martinez and his cartoonish muscles adorned one wall. Buying "Boli", however, was a little trickier. The bodybuilder said that Primobolan is sometimes available at a store such as Gurabo, but more often it is acquired on the black market: business has been good, he says, after A-Rod's admission that Primobolan was his drug of choice between 2001-03.
But even among serious users in the Dominican Republic, where fear of breaking the law for using steroids is minimal, there are concerns about what the drugs might be doing to the body. The bodybuilder's friend, a gym rat, showed a reporter an Anadrol-50 oral steroid pill in his pocket, admitting to ingesting one before workouts. The gym rat also said he uses Boldenone frequently, as well as testosterone. He said he regularly "cleans out" his system with a concoction of bitter coffee, white vinegar and sour orange juice.
"Tastes horrible," he said, "but you have to protect your liver and body. Too much use and you'll ruin your heart and insides."
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