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Apr 9, 2008 5:39 pm US/Eastern
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NYPD To Randomly Test Officers For Steroid Abuse
NEW YORK (AP) ―
The New York Police Department will soon begin randomly testing its 36,000-officer force for steroid abuse, officials said Wednesday.
The testing program comes in the wake of allegations that an illegal steroid ring was supplying bodybuilding police officers.
Police officials insisted that the decision to test for anabolic steroids -- first reported Wednesday in The New York Post -- doesn't reflect a concern about widespread abuse at the nation's largest police department. Instead, they said they wanted to drive home the point that using steroids without a prescription is illegal.
Since the NYPD already tests for narcotics, it "only makes sense to include steroids," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement.
The department plans to begin the urine testing, expected to cost about $1 million a year, in July. Currently, officers are selected at random and tested for heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs using hair samples.
Union officials declined to comment on the plan.
The department began re-examining its drug testing policy last year after several police officers were linked to the investigation of a Brooklyn pharmacy suspected of peddling millions of dollars of steroids and human growth hormone.
Records seized from the business indicated that its clientele included several NYPD officers who worked out at the same gym -- a revelation that prompted an internal probe. Of the 19 officers tested for steroids, six were positive; all were either suspended or given desk duty.
Last week, the NYPD issued a lengthy memo reminding officers that anabolic steroids are a controlled substance that can cause "aggressive, anti-social or inappropriate behavior," and that bodybuilding "is not a legitimate medical use."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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