Border shopping for steroids fast and easy

NOGALES, Mexico -- The walk across the border from Nogales, Ariz., to Nogales, Mexico, takes less than a minute. The Mexican side has a media nickname, "Pill City." The first thing you notice is the Viagra signs in the dozens of pharmacies that line the closest streets to the border. But we want steroids. Specifically Nandrolone, the same animal steroid that was found in former Red Sox infielder Manny Alexander's car in June 2000.

It takes just six minutes to find Nandrolone and purchase it without a prescription and without speaking a word of Spanish.

The closest drug stores cheerfully refer a customer to an animal pharmacy three blocks away. The "Bull Terry Farmacia Veterinaria" has caricatures of horses and Saint Bernards on the outside storefront and everything from saddles to steroids for sale on the inside. The man behind the counter has exactly what we want in his front-glass display case. He reaches above the hunting knives and pulls out a vial of Nandrolone. It is manufactured in Australia, and the carton has a cartoon of a kangaroo making a muscle with one hand and clutching the steroids in the other.

The label says the steroids are for horses, dogs, and cats to help heal surgically-repaired fractures. Other uses are to condition animals for racing. It cautions the user, "Do not use on animals destined for human consumption."

It also gives the appropriate dosages. But what if the steroids are for me?

No problem, says the man. Cut the dose in half. The price is $110, reduced with some bargaining to $90. No pesos, no problem. They take American currency or Visa or MasterCard. He also says it's no problem bringing the steroids back into the United States.

According to a US Customs official in Nogales, that's not true. Bringing steroids across the border is punishable by a fine, and large amounts are subject to civil or criminal penalties.

The US Customs and Border protection officer looks bored. He says just one word: "Citizen?" but asks for no proof. No license, no passport, no search.

Since 2000, there have been 315 steroid seizures at the Nogales border, but that number is declining because of an increase in Internet and mail order sales, customs officials say. At the Nogales Port of Entry, some 15,000 pedestrians cross each day and 10,500 vehicles transport 28,000 passengers. According to officials, in the past year there were 879 seizures at the entry, mostly for marijuana and cocaine possession. Fewer than 10 percent of the seizures were for prescription medications that include steroids.

"Our principal issue at the border is anti-terrorism," says Roger Maier, a spokesman for the US Customs and Border Protection, explaining why pedestrians can sometimes enter the United States without being asked for identification. "If we believe you are a US citizen, we generally let you pass without scrutiny. We know steroids are readily available in Mexico. [But] because of the volume of traffic crossing, we don't have time to check everybody."