Pharmacy Raids Reveal Pro Athletes Bought Steroids

Former major league relief pitcher John Rocker is the latest in a growing number of professional athletes named on client lists seized by federal and local law enforcement during recent pharmacy raids. The raids targeted pharmacies all over the southeast United States suspected to be part of a widespread network of illegal steroid suppliers.

Although it is expected to take the multiple law enforcement agencies involved in the investigation months to analyze the client lists, hard drives, and invoices seized, numerous athletes have already been implicated in the doping scandal.

Among the names thus far revealed as clients of the raided pharmacies are baseball players Gary Matthews Jr., Kurt Angle, Jerry Hariston Jr., David Bell, Jose Canseco, Rocker, and heavyweight boxing champ Evander Holyfield.

These names are now part of a growing list of high profile athletes disgraced by steroid allegations in the last year. Floyd Landis, the American winner of the 2006 Tour de France had his title stripped after testing positive for steroids, and American Olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin was banned from track for up to eight years after tests revealed he had also used steroids.

The doping saga now known as the BALCO scandal was first uncovered in 2003 and included leaked grand jury testimony about steroid use from some of the biggest names in baseball, including Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi. BALCO is the acronym for the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, a company whose official business was blood and urine analysis and food supplements.