If the substance works in horses to give those animals an extra dose of power and speed, why not try it on humans as a muscle relaxant. Of course, online, without prescription or medical control. This is what gangs dedicated to the illegal sale of thymosin beta 4 have thought, at their own risk and expense, one of the medications that is currently being sold on the Internet under the label “sports pharmacies.” This is revealed by Rafael Areñas, third vice president of the Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid.
Most of the substances on this dangerous and illegal market promise to gain muscle and lose fat with little effort or miraculous recoveries after great physical exhaustion. And if one of those medications from the peptide family, so sought after by those who want to gain muscle, causes gynecomastia (breast enlargement and milk secretion) nothing happens. Added to that same virtual letter is a medication that is legal with a medical prescription and is designed for women who suffer these losses after childbirth. This is how the milk is cut and... problem solved.
This online trade of such dangerous substances ingested without any medical control “is the daily bread on the Internet,” adds Rafael Areñas, who does not hide his concern about the growth of this illegal market. A business that has adopted the motto, renew or die.
These online “sports pharmacies” have been converted. They started decades ago with the sale of anabolics, steroids and other doping substances and now in their new “menu” they are very successful with medications created to attract a very young audience (mainly men) who are looking for the perfect body in record time in gyms. . And for that a miracle is needed, which is what is promised.
To make things easier (this is the latest news) “these medications can now be ingested orally (drops) which opens the door to the club for those afraid of syringes,” reveals Areñas. And the most worrying thing is that these consumers are not aware of the risks assumed when purchasing these uncontrolled substances online.
The most demanded products, from the peptide family (SARM, GHRP, EPO, growth hormone...), "can cause diabetes, impotence, gynecomastia, hepatitis, kidney and liver lesions, thrombosis...", warns Rafael Areñas. Many of these substances are not even checked by drug agencies yet.
The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has different investigations underway – most based on complaints filed by Madrid pharmacists – to unmask the gangs behind these portals. “They don't stop increasing!” exclaims one of the agents dedicated to that task.
In these police investigations – we are talking about a serious public health problem – it is found that the postal addresses of these “sports pharmacies” (they claim on their portals to have physical headquarters in Spain) are false. “Some of those addresses (there are also those in Barcelona) are for plots where there is nothing built or for department stores that have nothing to do with that activity and the telephones that pretend to be Spanish are also invented,” reveals that Benemérita commander. . The added difficulty for investigators is that these organizations operate with total impunity from other countries.
The main gateway to these websites (they disappear as quickly as they flourish) are gyms. Word of mouth among the customers of these establishments - practically the majority outside that market - is the best propaganda.
The client profile is a very young male who wants to get in shape, not to mention muscular, in record time. And there are those false “pharmacies” with the appearance of legality to make everything very easy for you.
The concern of police forces and health authorities is the ease of these “sports pharmacies” in finding their audience. The cult of the body is at its peak. This makes it very easy to attract clients willing to buy these products, “and even more so if they are sold from portals that look like pharmacies,” adds this agent. “And those portals are not pharmacies, that has to be very clear so that no one makes a mistake,” Rafael Areñas repeats.
Another front that complicates the work of researchers to stop these portals is to look for it in the influencers who promote these substances as “miracle products.” The cocktail couldn't be more perfect and dangerous.
