IT'S TIME TO GET STEROID NATION OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE
- Al Thompson
- Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2021
In early fall of 2020, a political ad for the Joe Biden/Kamala Harris ticket emerged on social media. It featured pro wrestler/actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
The video is about five minutes long and starts with Johnson formerly endorsing the Biden/Harris ticket.
Biden, Harris and Johnson - on separate screens - exchanged compliments and ideas on how the country should go forward.
“I have never publicly endorsed a presidential candidate, or a vice presidential candidate in my life, over my career,” Johnson exclaimed.
Harris and Biden seemed touched by his endorsement.
There's a big problem with this: Johnson has immersed himself in the steroid culture his entire professional life. So have other White House darlings Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno plus Linda and Vince McMahon. Most recently IMG has found its way into the Biden administration when it signed Harris' step-daughter Ella Emhoff to a modeling deal. IMG has been a player in Steroid Nation for over 40 years..
These successful people have one major common theme: They earned their fame and fortune from the use and later in life, the promotion of steroids to the youth of this country.
There are laws in place that are clear that steroids are illegal – including the recently passed federal legislation Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act that now makes sports doping at international competitions an act of federal fraud. There is plenty of information out there about the health risks long-term steroid use can have on the body.
How can the medical community and law enforcement do their job when president after president fawn over some of the worst actors in what my non profit POYS (Protect Our Youth from Steroids) refers to as “Steroid Nation?” How can coaches and trainers convince young student-athletes to steer clear of PEDs when we can't get our presidents to behave responsibly? .
The White House and every president – past and present – must keep Steroid Nation out of their enterprise. Johnson has publicly admitted steroid use when he was younger many times. Johnson's ex-wife and current business partner Dany Garcia lists herself as an IFBB/NPC Pro bodybuilder.
Garcia's bodybuilding boss is Jim Manion. He's listed as the IFBB/NPC Pro bodybuilding federation president. Garcia and Johnson are co-promoting a IFBB/NPC pro bodybuilding competition in October in Atlanta as part of “Athleticon.” It is billed as a fitness expo not unlike “The Arnold” that's held every March in Columbus Ohio.
Johnson and Schwarzenegger are hands-on promoters of these expos that feature a number of bodybuilding and strength events like strongman and powerlifting that do not hide steroid use by their competitors. These are both international competitions.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) official Maggie Durand confirmed to POYS that Manion has been blacklisted by WADA until 2025.
Manion has been involved with people like Schwarzenegger and Johnson for decades. Are there no other movie stars, not involved with illegal drugs, for Biden, Harris and all the other presidents to associate with?
The “Arnold Strongman Classic” has been rebuked by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives twice – in 2014 and 2016 - for its lack of testing for steroids, rampant steroid use and high fatality rate. The resolutions also admonished IFBB/NPC bodybuilding and IMG's “World's Strongest Man” for the same reasons. Both expos feature events for kids. How many parents are made aware of the steroid culture by local and national media outlets? Zero.
“The Arnold” and IMG's “World's Strongest Man” require competitors to go through qualifier federations that take place in most states across America. These qualifiers are where many young people, mostly young men, are introduced to the dark side of steroid use.
Yet George W. Bush recently painted a portrait of Schwarzenegger.
Why? Here is an excerpt from an article by New York Magazine columnist Burkhard Bilger in 2012 about steroid use at "The Arnold." "George H. W. Bush had both criminalized the use of steroids and appointed Arnold Schwarzenegger—the world’s most famous steroid user—chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.” Where is the logic in that?
In 2018, President Trump selected Ferrigno to be part of his National Fitness Council. Steroids were legal when he used drugs to play the "Incredible Hulk." Now those drugs are just as illegal as heroin and cocaine. Ferrigno continues to promote his steroid days and is a regular at "The Arnold." In the early 1990s, Vince McMahon was involved in a major drug scandal and was indicted in federal court for distributing steroids to wrestlers. He was eventually acquitted.
Both Linda and Vince McMahon were under federal investigation from 2007-2009 for rampant steroid use among their wrestlers. Yet 81 U.S. Senators voted to allow Linda McMahon to serve on Trump's cabinet. In 2016 Brock Lesnar was given a one-year suspension by the USADA for a failed drug test while he was fighting in the UFC. He went right back to wrestling and according to Forbes, became the WWE's top money maker in 2017. Is there any vetting of these people by the White House?
The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act of 2019 was voted into law in the fall of 2020. It went into effect in early 2021. POYS was an official endorser of the legislation as was the NFL, MLB, NHL, PGA Tour and every Olympic team. POYS was working with staff officials of over 40 members of congress on how to apply the new law to people like Schwarzenegger, Johnson, IMG and the McMahon's, until the pandemic shut down Washington.
The 2012 “Arnold” strongman champion and three-time IMG “World's Strongest Man” finalist Mike Jenkins. 31, died on Thanksgiving Day 2013 of a massive heart episode. Mike, who weighed over 400 pounds as a strongman, was a Hershey PA resident. Dauphin County, PA coroner Graham Hetrick certified on Mike's death certificate that he had “poisoned” himself to death with a stunning array of substances and illegal drugs.
I interviewed Hetrick in June 2014. Hetrick said Mike ingested traditional anabolic steroids, stimulants and other steroids meant for large animals. The former college offensive lineman's heart, at the time of his death, was two-and-a-half times the size of a normal human's.
When Hertrick was shown the 2014 Pennsylvania resolution rebuking these steroid events by name, he made these remarks:
“It’s certain that long term use of steroids is going to injure the body,” Hetrick said. “It’s the same potential, you know you are distributing something that is going to do them great harm. And if it’s certain and you’re encouraging people to do it, it’s no different than someone standing on a street corner and selling illicit drugs…and we put them in jail.”
It is unlikely at this time that Schwarzenegger, Johnson, IMG executives, Ferrigno or the McMahon's are headed to jail. With the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act in place, there is a reason to hope for change. In the meantime, can we at least get Steroid Nation out of the White House?
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Al Thompson is the founder of the registered non profit “Protect Our Youth from Steroids.” Thompson has covered professional, college and high school sports for over 35 years in the Philadelphia area. He is a former strength and conditioning coach for Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, PA.
