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Title: Cops Busted Running Major Steroid Ring—Selling Roids to Other Cops For Years
Source:
Free Thought Project
URL Source: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/co ... roids-to-other-cops-for-years/
Published: Feb 18, 2018
Author: Matt Agorist
Post Date: 2018-02-19 08:34:10 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 11056
Comments: 62
Edmonton, CA — Two Edmonton police officers were found guilty this week for running a highly profitable steroid ring—selling anabolic steroids to fellow cops. Edmonton Police officer Greg Lewis was tried and convicted on multiple counts of trafficking a controlled substance while he ostensibly protected the people of Edmonton. “Given (the) convictions on two of those charges, disciplinary proceedings under the Police Service Regulation will now be initiated,” said EPS spokesperson Carolin Maran. In their decision, however, the court somewhat justified the cop’s use and sale of steroids as a means of being fit. While reading his decision, Brooker detailed how Lewis, 36, was a “proponent of fitness” who had a reputation for knowing where to find steroids, reported CBC. Lewis has been on unpaid suspension since he was busted in March of 2015. After a two-year investigation by the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, Lewis was finally charged. During the trial, Lewis admitted to both using steroids and selling them to his colleagues. What’s more, his fellow cops even testified that they bought the drugs from him. The other officer charged with Lewis, Darren French, pleaded guilty in June 2016 to two counts of trafficking Stanozolol and Methyl-1-Testosterone, according to CBC. While Lewis’s sentencing has been delayed until further notice, French received a slap on the wrist for his role in the ring. French was given probation and a $1,500 fine and was allowed to retire with his pension for his 25 years of ‘service.’ While it is certainly the belief of the Free Thought Project that anyone should be able to put anything into their own body without persecution of the state, police officers using anabolic steroids—which included a host of aggressive side effects—is an extremely bad idea. There is no question that many police officers use performance-enhancing drugs. In fact, the problem of police steroid use became so bad, in 2004, the DEA intervened to warn of the “possible psychological disturbances” of roid-raging cops. The DEA said symptoms included: Eventually, a few years later, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, made up of 16,000 members worldwide set a standard that “calls upon state and local law enforcement entities to establish a model policy prohibiting the use of illegally obtained steroids” by officers. However, this policy never happened. Not only do cops vehemently resist being drug tested by their departments, claiming it is a violation of their civil rights, they are also frequently caught selling steroids. “This is one of the dirty little secrets of American law enforcement,” says Gregory Gilbertson, a former Atlanta cop who teaches criminal justice in the Seattle area and works as a legal expert on police standards and practices, according to Alternet. “Steroid testing is declining, and I think there’s an attitude in all these agencies of ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ because they don’t want to know about it. Because if they know about it, then they have to address it.” These Edmonton cops are not alone either. As the Free Thought Project previously reported, Darrion Holiwell, 51, was arrested and charged for not only taking steroids but dealing them to other SWAT deputies on the force, as well as people outside the agency. As Alternet pointed out, the cases of cops using and selling steroids are anything but isolated. These are some of the cases that have made news in the past year, though there likely are others that have not been revealed publicly: The dangers of cops taking steroids are obvious, as the rage associated with their use can become uncontrollable. All too often, we see police officers immediately escalate situations to violence when de-escalation would have been far easier and safer. Steroids could be the reason. “I keep seeing all of these cases where the level of anger and violence shown by officers makes no sense,” Gilbertson says. “And when things don’t make sense, they don’t make sense for a reason…Maybe steroid rage is a reason so many police officers seem so angry and aggressive.” Cops on the juice feel indestructible, as if they have superhuman strength. Or as the DEA puts it, “The idea of enhanced physical strength and endurance provides one with ‘the invincible mentality’ when performing law enforcement duties.” Starting to make sense now? “Reasonable suspicion should be raised if they shoot somebody or beat the living daylights out of somebody,” Dan Handelman, a founding member of Portland Copwatch told Alternet. “In some of these recent cases, the officers seemed to be pumped up and were not necessarily working in a calm and level-headed manner. We wonder how much of this was coming from natural adrenalin and how much coming from other substances.” 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 34.
#10. To: Deckard (#0)
(Edited)
A google search turns up no police officer named Greg Lewis on any Edmonton, California, police force. Neither is there a police officer named Darren French on any Edmonton, California, police force. Hey Deckard....exactly where is Edmonton, California?
The writer, Matt Agorist, never used the word 'California' at all. He did mention "Edmonton, CA" in his byline that opened the article and went on to mention "Alberta". I can't see any reason why any literate American would think the article was about anything except Canadian cops in a steroid ring.
I can,but it's not the writers fault,it is the readers fault. It's easy to read something like that,see the abbreviation "CA",and just assume it's California. We all do it,including me. This just means we need to read more carefully and not jump to assumptions.
I can,but it's not the writers fault,it is the readers fault. It's easy to read something like that,see the abbreviation "CA",and just assume it's California. We all do it,including me. This just means we need to read more carefully and not jump to assumptions. I can too and I believe that everyone who read the article before my post assumed the city of Edmonton named in the article was definitely in California....although I don’t expect anyone to admit that.
I didn't. In part because Edmonton is an unusual spelling and would be unlikely to be found in America. It would be typical of spellings from 19th century British Commonwealth countries like Canada and Australia. Edmonton's population is 932,000 as of 2016. Edmonton is a pretty large city in Alberta. It is not some unknown rural village. It is Canada's fifth largest city according to Wiki. The top four are Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Ottawa. And Ottawa only beat Edmonton by a few thousand, both being just under 1 million in population. Edmonton is hardly unknown and is one of North America's major metro areas. And saying that is not just some FTP propaganda. It is a fact, according to the 2016 Canadian census. But then, a Phoenician like yourself knew all that, right? BTW, how many people would even know that a resident of Phoenix is officially known as a Phoenician? Or would assume that that word signifies the ancient people known in the Bible as Phoenicians?
#52. To: All, Gatlin, Deckard (#34)
(Edited)
I was musing over this a bit. Both Toronto and Calgary are in Ontario province in Canada. And there is a Windsor, Ontario as well (307,000). And we do know there is an Ontario, California and a Windsor, California, both fairly well known West Coast towns. So this same story might have been even more confusing if that were its opening byline: Windsor, CA or Ontario, CA for instance. It does seem that this writer pretty pointedly avoided ever using the word Canada to make it clear to readers that the main theme of his article was a Canadian cop-roid ring, not an American one. He avoided the word Canada pretty assiduously. What, he couldn't type those extra six keystrokes to put the word 'Canada' in there? C'mon. So I wouldn't agree with Gatlin that this is classic yellow journalism (of the sort that famously built up the Hearst newspaper chain). But it is at best poor writing and can be plausibly suspected of trying to lead people to think that a Canucki roid-ring was somehow an American roid-ring. FTP does have a steady pattern of clickbaitery that hurts their credibility as a news source. And this writer citing AlterNet to boot makes it even more suspicious.
Edmonton, Kentucky.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Starting to make sense now?
It is DEFINITELY not….it makes NO sense at all.
#19. To: Gatlin (#10)
A google search turns up no police officer named Greg Lewis on any Edmonton, California, police force.
#22. To: Tooconservative (#19)
I can't see any reason why any literate American would think the article was about anything except Canadian cops in a steroid ring.
#28. To: sneakypete, Tooconsrvative (#22)
I can't see any reason why any literate American would think the article was about anything except Canadian cops in a steroid ring.
#34. To: Gatlin, Deckard (#28)
I can too and I believe that everyone who read the article before my post assumed the city of Edmonton named in the article was definitely in California....although I don’t expect anyone to admit that.
Replies to Comment # 34. The top four are Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Ottawa. And Ottawa only beat Edmonton by a few thousand, both being just under 1 million in population.
#54. To: Tooconservative (#34)
unusual spelling and would be unlikely to be found in America
End Trace Mode for Comment # 34.
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