By: Bodybuilding.com

If you are a user of prohormone products, then this article should be of extreme interest to you. Even if you are not a user of prohormone products, but just a supplement consumer who wishes to maintain his/her freedom of access to health food products, then this article should still be of interest to you.

HR 207 is a bill that was introduced to the United States House of Representatives last October by Rep. Sweeney (pictured above) and Rep. Osbourne. This bill poses a grave threat not only to the prohormone industry, but also to the integrity of the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) and ultimately to the nutritional supplement industry as a whole. This bill aims to give broad powers to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to schedule practically any steroid-based compound as a controlled substance. In effect, this bill will allow the government to completely circumvent DSHEA and remove popular and safe nutritional supplement products from the market - without identifying any legitimate public health concern!!

That is correct, this bill aims to give the attorney general the power to criminalize the possession of all steroid hormone related supplement products that are on the market today. The bill is written in such a way that it covers not only all steroid hormone precursors and metabolites, but also all precursors of precursors, and metabolites of precursors and so on and so forth. The bill gives no consideration to whether or not any of these compounds possess any relevant pharmacological activity - let alone whether or not any of these compounds are related to any health risk or potential for abuse.

What compounds can be made illegal to possess after this bill is passed? Well the obvious candidates are the traditional prohormones - androstenedione, norandrostenedione, 4-androstenediol, 1-androstenediol and so on and so forth. Of course all the so called "pro-steroids" like 1-testosterone will also fall victim. It doesn't stop there however. The anti-aging related products DHEA, 7-Keto DHEA, and pregnenolone will also be bootstrapped in - even though these have little or nothing to do with promoting muscle growth!!

What are "Controlled Substances"?

The "Controlled Substances Act of 1970" as it is referred to, was originally designed to limit and control access to drugs that have potential for addiction and abuse. This originally concerned only drugs that can make you high or intoxicated in a pleasant way, but in 1990 an amendment to the act was approved that also included anabolic steroids . . The Controlled Substances Act allows for fine control of drugs of abuse, by the inclusion of 5 categories of scheduling that range from the most restricted (Class I) to the lesser restrived (Class V). Along with the Controlled Substances Act were harsher prison sentences, new DEA registration numbers for all prescribers or drug handlers, and other additions that are beyond the scope of this article. Most states have passed laws that mirror the Controlled Substances Act, although from state to state there are differences and peculiarities.

HR 207 aims to reclassify all steroid hormone supplement products as Class III controlled substances, right along with prescription anabolic steroids. Since these products are not approved drugs, the only way you can possess them is if you have special registration by the DEA (generally only given to doctors or to those belonging to established pre-approved research organizations). If you do not have this special registration then you might be committing a FELONY for having that bottle of DHEA or 4-AD, and you can conceivably be facing prison time!! As unbelievable as this sounds, this is all true. And it can happen as early as February or March of next year.

What YOU Can Do!

The time to stand up for supplement freedom is NOW! Your action is urgently needed! You can make a difference if you act immediately! Let the folks on Capitol Hill know that American adults want supplement freedom, not an expansion of the war on drugs into our neighborhood health food stores!

Step One: Copy This Form Letter. Time: 2 seconds.

Simply highlight the letter below and then press CONTROL-C on your keyboard to copy it into your computers memory. Then you can press CONTROL-V to copy the text into the form on the next page. Put your name where it goes when you copy the form. Directions on where to paste this text is below.

FORM LETTER

It has come to my attention that a bill (HR 207) has been introduced that aims to classify a wide variety of nutritional supplements as controlled substances. As a consumer of nutritional supplement products, I am gravely concerned about the consequences of this bill.

This bill represents an abuse of the legislative system, and a blatant misuse of the controlled substance act. How can the government vote to overnight make criminal the possession of substances which have been used safely for years by millions of people? How can the government agree to allow the attorney general to classify compounds as controlled substances without determining the existence of any appropriate toxicological or pharmacological activity? Was the controlled substance act enacted with the intention that it may be used as a political tool?

If the government believes nutritional supplements such as androstenedione and DHEA are unsafe and wishes to restrict access to them, then let it do so through already established and legitimate means. Let the government produce the evidence that these substances are a risk to individuals and society, or that they meet the legal/scientific qualifications to be listed as controlled substances. Then, and only then, may the government be allowed to act.

If this bill is passed it will directly affect the freedoms and lives of millions of consumers, including mature individuals that use DHEA and androstenedione for anti-aging / life-extension purposes. If this bill is passed then there will assuredly be a massive backlash come re-election time.

Step Two: Enter Your Zip Code And Then E-Mail Congressman. Time: 20 seconds.

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The Full Text Of The Bill:

HR 207 IH

To amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the placing of certain substances on the schedules of controlled substances, and for other purposes.

OCTOBER 7, 2002

Mr. SWEENEY (for himself and Mr. OSBORNE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary and Education and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

To amend the Controlled Substances Act with respect to the placing of certain substances on the schedules of controlled substances, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SCHEDULING OF CERTAIN SUBSTANCES.

(a) DEFINITION- Section 102(23) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(23)) is amended--

(1) by striking `(A)' and inserting `(B)(i)';

(2) by striking `(B)' and inserting `(ii);

(3) by striking `(C)' and inserting `(iii); and

(4) by inserting after `means a substance--' the following new subparagraph:

`(A) which the Attorney General has found to be, and by regulation designated as being, the immediate chemical precursor of an anabolic steroid that has been scheduled as a controlled substance (hereinafter in this subparagraph referred to as `scheduled anabolic steroid') which either is a metabolite of a scheduled anabolic steroid or is transformed in the body directly into a scheduled anabolic steroid or the metabolite of a scheduled anabolic steroid; or'.

(b) PLACEMENT ON SCHEDULE- Section 201(e) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 811(e)) is amended--

(1) by inserting `or for the immediate precursor of a scheduled anabolic steroid, without regard to the requirements of section 102(41), including the requirement that the substance promote muscle growth' after `section 202(b)'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following: `However, once an immediate precursor described in section 102(23)(A) is placed in a schedule pursuant to this section, it becomes a controlled substance and the Attorney General may schedule an immediate precursor of that substance in accordance with this section.

SEC. 2. AT-RISK EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR GRADE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEENAGERS.

(a) IN GENERAL- The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (hereinafter in this section referred to as the `Director') is authorized to undertake education programs at the grade and high school levels to highlight the harmful effects of steroids and steroid precursor use by youths.

(b) TARGET REQUIREMENTS- The Director shall, to the maximum extent feasible, use amounts made available to carry out subsection (a) for existing State and local antidrug programs. Furthermore, funds made available for this purpose shall be used primarily on education programs that will directly communicate with teachers, principals, coaches, as well as grade and high school children at the school level on the harmful effects of steroids and steroid precursors.

(c) AUTHORIZATION- There is authorized to be appropriated for programs under section 2(a) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2004, and $17,500,000 for fiscal year 2005.

Bodybuilding.com

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