New Jersey Taxpayers Paying for Cops’ Steroids

Monday, 13 December 2010 | by Pat's Picks

MTV’s “Jersey Shore” has made tanned, muscle-bound men the unofficial state symbol of New Jersey. And apparently that’s not too far off the mark.  The Newark Star-Ledger says taxpayers foot the bill for millions of dollars in anabolic steroid prescriptions each year for the state’s cops and firefighters. An investigation by the paper revealed that almost 250 cops and firefighters were prescribed anabolic steroids and human growth hormone on the state’s dime. The prescriptions were for hormone deficiencies that, for the most part, were fictional; One doctor, who died two years ago at the age of 45 from hardened arteries (a side effect of steroid abuse), was responsible for all of the prescriptions.

The story is part of a good three-part story detailing the Star-Ledger’s investigation. Below are some of the other stories I though were worth a read:

Strong at Any Cost: Five deaths in 19 months linked to steroids, Lowen’s pharmacy
N.J. doctor supplied steroids to hundreds of law enforcement officers, firefighters