Homeless in Arizona

More of the old "Do as I say, not as I do" from our religious leaders, government masters and police???

I don't think cops and the police unions that represent them like it when THEY are expected to obey the laws against using illegal drugs.

How many of you remember that raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Ana, California a couple of weeks ago when the cops were caught on camera stealing and eating the marijuana edibles?

Sadly that's how the system works. When we use illegal drugs we go to prison, when cops use illegal drugs they rarely get more then a slap on the wrist, if that much.

Phoenix police terminate random steroids testing

Megan Cassidy, The Republic | azcentral.com 9:24 p.m. MST July 8, 2015

Phoenix police pioneered an anti-doping policy that took hold in police agencies across the country when the department implemented random steroid-testing nine years ago, but the agency suddenly and quietly shut the program down last year.

Department administrators cited excessive costs and test results that were muddled by the prevalence of legal supplements and testosterone that was legally prescribed to officers.

In 2006, Phoenix became the first major city in the nation to add anabolic steroids to the list of illegal substances to be randomly screened from its ranks.

Police in the Valley and across the country were juicing to get a leg up on the criminals, but rumors and unflattering media reports tied the practice to a darker side of law enforcement. Officials worried excessive or improper use of force would be a dangerous side effect of "roid rage" with a badge.

Phoenix's policy became particularly relevant in 2007, when police and firefighters across the Valley were swept up in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration probe into doctors improperly passing out prescriptions. At least 12 Phoenix officers and 12 firefighters were linked to the investigation.

The city became a model for the practice over the years, prompting officials from the New York Police Department and other agencies to tap Phoenix officials for advice on their approach. Cities such as Mesa, Albuquerque and Dallas instituted similar policies.

But the program quietly dissolved in 2014, and police say sworn officers are now only tested for the substance on a "for cause" basis.

The testing may be triggered by a specific incident or if officials receive information from a family member, witness or co-worker that would indicate illegal usage, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman.

"It is still a controlled substance without a doctor's prescription," Crump said. "It's been removed from the random drug-screen panel, but any use without a doctor's care it is still prohibited."

Costs associated with the additional testing in the cash-stretched agency were at the root of the program's termination, said Will Buividas, treasurer of a police-labor union, who was privy to discussions on the issue.

A urine sample can be tested for marijuana, Valium, meth and a host of other illegal substances at about $10 per test. But steroid screening is run through a separate process called liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and it is as much as 10 to 20 times more expensive.

Complicating the issue were steroid-mimicking substances in supplements and prescriptions that triggered a positive test. Even when a test turned up positive, the results were rendered debatable by the legalized means of beefing up.

"We're in a different time," Buividas said. "Testosterone replacement therapy is extremely prevalent."

At the time the policy was challenged in late 2013, there were about six active cases where employees were seeking medical attention for testosterone therapy, Crump said.

Because of these justifications, severe discipline was rare even for those who tested positive during the policy's seven-year stint.

Since the beginning of 2012, only one officer has come before Arizona's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the state's entity for certifying its sworn employees.

Former Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Graff was terminated after admitting to illegally purchasing and then using 20 milliliters of the steroid testosterone.

The Sheriff's Office does not have a steroid-screening policy, according to a spokesman.

Current Phoenix police policy dictates rank and file, assistant chiefs and commanders be tested at least once every three years for controlled substances including alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, opiates, acetylmorphine (a substance found in heroin) and phencyclidine (PCP).

The random steroids testing remains in some agencies like Mesa, which runs a lottery screening program monthly.

Experts say there is no reason to believe the use of performance enhancers is any less common today than it was in the mid-2000s.

"There's no real way to stem the tide, so to speak, as far as access to steroids, and there's no prospect in the near future that use of them is going to decline," said Dr. Harrison G. Pope, director of the Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at Harvard's McLean Hospital.

"We are going to continue to see its use with law-enforcement officers," he said.