What's the Beef?

On the afternoon of December 3, Tannery picked up his package while being staked out by a police narcotics team. About an hour later, a Colorado Springs police tactical enforcement unit entered the house with guns drawn. Tannery was placed in handcuffs and read his Miranda rights.

Tannery insisted it was the first time he'd ever done anything like this and said he'd ordered the steroids only because he had suffered weight and image problems after his divorce and wanted to get back into shape. After a few more questions and a thorough search of Tannery's apartment, the police advised him that they were letting him go and that he'd be sent an arrest warrant by mail.

In addition to the logistical complications of completing a successful bust, many cops harbor a relatively casual attitude toward steroids. Building a steroids case means taking resources away from more immediate and serious problems. In the case of U.S. Customs, that could mean bombs or harder drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine.

Not only are steroid cases "kind of difficult to prosecute," admits postal inspector Rivas, "it's also not one of the highest priorities." Besides, he adds, his agency has discovered that often "the U.S. Attorneys just wouldn't prosecute," even when evidence was presented to them. As a result, Rivas says, he's heard of only half a dozen cases coming through the pipeline in the past year.

Further muddying the waters is the fact that steroid users, as a rule, don't cause as many problems as other drug users. Unlike junkies busted for, say, crack, those who juice rarely cross-use with other drugs -- or do much of anything illegal. "Usually these guys have very clean criminal histories," says one Colorado Springs narcotics detective who asked that her name not be used because she often works undercover. Cary Tannery had had only a single contact with Colorado Springs police prior to his bust, and that was for a traffic violation.

Even though steroids are considered Schedule III drugs in federal and state anti-drug statutes, they differ from those substances generally connected with the typical abuser. They aren't stimulants, or depressants, or narcotics or hallucinogens. They aren't really even considered addictive (though some health-care professionals have claimed a psychological addiction can occur). Juicers don't take anabolics to feel high; mostly they take them to look good. As a result, unlike many junkies, who appear unhealthy, dirty and stoned, those who use steroids often look hyper-healthy. You aren't likely to find steroid users prowling Colfax Avenue late on a Saturday night. They're probably at home, preparing for their Sunday morning workout.

Steroid users are also cliquish. They either use alone or with a very tight-knit group of juicer jocks whom they trust. "It's such a closed culture," says Steve Prentup, a lieutenant in the Boulder County Drug Task Force. "You've gotta be a bodybuilder sitting next to someone else [to catch someone using]. You've got to be in that circle."

Cops and DAs also concede that prosecuting a steroid user just isn't that satisfying. Last spring, Tannery pleaded guilty to possession of a Schedule III drug, with intent to distribute. He received a two-year deferred sentence and was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.

If you've been busted for steroid possession -- and you're smart -- you call the Long Island offices of Rick Collins.

A self-professed "health nut from way back," Collins says he was a fairly active team-sports athlete as a child, "but when I discovered bodybuilding, I knew I'd discovered my niche." He competed successfully for several years in local bodybuilding competitions before starting his own personal-training business in the early 1990s.

"When it comes to muscle, he knows what he's talking about," says John Romano, an editor at Muscular Development magazine.

Collins worked as an assistant district attorney for several years after law school before leaving the government payroll and turning to criminal defense. In the mid-'90s he started combining his interests, at first representing a few acquaintances here and there on steroid-related cases. Eventually, he says, "steroids became what people came to me for." Over the past five years, defending those charged with possession or distribution of steroids has become the bulk of his bustling practice; Collins estimates that he's worked in excess of 1,000 steroid-related cases.