- Jun 25, 2006
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Black Market Update: Mexico
When it comes to anabolic steroids, there is no country on earth quite like Mexico. Ten years ago, its tiny drug market was at best an afterthought in the minds of bodybuilders, who tended to look at Mexican drugs as low quality. Today, things are very different. The market for steroids in Mexico is the single largest in the world (mainly veterinary drugs), and it exists almost entirely to feed the tremendous demand American athletes have for these agents. (Or maybe Mexico just has more sick pets than any other country in the world, I don’t know). The majority of steroids sold in the U.S. today are either manufactured in Mexico, or smuggled into this country through its borders. American dollars are flowing south by the truckload, feeding an industry that’s getting bigger and more vastly occupied with companies, by the hour. If you want to know what’s going on in the world of steroids, you really need to keep up with what’s going on in Mexico. I, of course, make it my business to do exactly that. In fact, this was my main focus when I hopped on a cruise ship a few weeks ago that was destined for two ports of call in the beautiful land of anabolicos. I needed to pick up some last-minute things for the book (Anabolics 2004), and thought, what the hell, I might as well make a whole big trip out of it. I figured I could use a little quiet time anyway; what better way than to be locked on a cruise ship? It didn’t go quite as planned, though. A picture ESPN took of me during a recent interview would be plastered on the front cover of their magazine three days into the trip, keeping me extremely busy the whole time with business. Needless to say, I didn’t get much rest. But it was an extremely productive seven days anyway; so much so, that I thought I’d turn this month’s column into a “What’s going on in Mexico” piece. Sorry to disappoint you if you were counting on medical journal references this month. It’s all black market update this time, but I think you will find it to be a very interesting update.
The “Big Three”
Denkall, Quality Vet and SYD Group— I refer to them as the “Big Three.” They have earned the distinction, at least in my book, of being the three best steroid manufactures in Mexico right now. This is not based on sales volumes, as all three companies are relatively new and might not quite dominate the market yet. Rather, it’s based on a trust I have in their products. What I mean is, if you buy from one of these companies, you should be able to feel confident of two very important things. First, what is on the label is going to be what is in the bottle. The fill amounts may not always be 100 percent, but each tablet, capsule or milliliter of solution is going to contain the amount of steroid you have paid your good money for. Second, you are going to be protected when buying their products, as they all use intricate security hologram stickers that to date, have never been successfully copied by counterfeiters. By utilizing these three companies, you have access to almost anything you would need and can rest assured your next cycle will include all the expensive components you expect it to, if you stick to them. Below are the current product lists for the three manufacturers.
Denkall
AquaTest testosterone suspension 100 mg/ml 10 ml vial CypioTest 250 testosterone cypionate 250 mg/ml 10 ml vial Oxandrovet oxandrolone 5 mg #100 Oximetalon oxymetholone 75 mg #100 Stanazolic stanozolol 50, 100 mg/ml 20, 10ml vial Stanazolic stanozolol 6mg, 10mg #100, 300 Test 400 testosterone ester blend 400 mg/ml 10 ml vial D-Bol methandrostenolone 10 mg #96, 100, 300D-Bol methandrostenolone 25 mg/ml 10 ml vialDecanandrolen nandrolone decanoate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Denkadiol methandriol dipropionate 75 mg/ml 10 ml vialUltragan boldenone undecylenate 50, 100mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial
Quality Vet
Bold QV boldenone undecylenate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Deca QV nandrolone decanoate 200, 300 mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial Enantat QV testosterone enanthate 250 mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial Propionat QV testosterone propionate 100 mg/ml 10 ml vial Stan QV stanozolol 50, 100 mg/ml 20 ml vial Teston QV testosterone cypionate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Trembolone QV trenbolone acetate 75 mg/ml 10 ml vial
SYD Group
Anabolic BD boldenone undecylenate 100, 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic DN nandrolone cypionate 50, 300 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic NA methandriol (blend) 75 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic ST stanozolol 50 mg/ml 20 ml vial Anabolic TL testosterone cypionate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic TS testosterone suspension 100 mg/ml 20 ml vial
Ttokkyo Trouble
A year ago, Ttokkyo was on top of the Mexican steroid market. But right now, it appears they’re in trouble. If you follow my column you might remember me reporting about the arrest of Ttokkyo’s owner, Dr. Francisco Molina, on ketamine distribution charges last September. The good news is that today, nearly a year later, the company is still operating in spite of this. But things seem a little shaky for them at the moment. Conspicuously absent on the black market are the more expensive products from Ttokkyo, such as their long-heralded Primo-Plus, or their highly favored trenbolone acetate injectable. Instead, they seem focused on pumping out the more “standard” and less costly drugs, such as their testosterone, nandrolone and methandrostenolone products. Furthermore, a very troubling fake was presented to me; it’s pictured here. The truly disturbing thing about this Ttokkyo nandrolone knock-off is that it does have the proper hologram sticker and even the custom imprinted bottles the company uses. Since it’s highly unlikely Ttokkyo gets its bottles and hologram stickers from the same place, I am left to conclude that someone inside the company has stolen these valuable manufacturing materials; perhaps a disgruntled ex-partner or employee. What they are putting into the knockoffs is anyone’s guess right now, but it draws into question the whole line for many who rely on these stickers to protect them. This particular fake does stand out for other reasons (the Neapolitan Mastiff is missing for one), but since we don’t know how good the next one will look, we all need to take caution with the whole Ttokkyo line moving forward.
Lab Testing Disappointments
The trip also offered me an excellent opportunity to have products sent in to a third-party laboratory for analysis. A lot has been changing on the market down there and I wanted to know if the quality of some of the older companies’ products had been improving. You might remember the general attitude American bodybuilders used to have about Mexican veterinary gear, namely that it was notoriously under-dosed. As I mentioned in the opening of this article, several companies can be highly trusted in the market right now. I was curious if the competition was causing some of the other companies to follow suit. It turns out, much to my dismay, most were not— at least among the products I tested. Let’s go over a few of the more conspicuous results.
Loeffler
From Loeffler I tested both a 10-milliliter bottle of Reforvit-B, with brand new packaging to assure it was a recent item, and a bottle of their incredibly high-dosed (250mg/ml) testosterone propionate product Testopro L/A. I was basically curious to see if they actually crammed all 250 milligrams of propionate into this product and I decided I’d send in some Reforvit while I was at it, just to make sure it was hitting the labeled dose. What I saw when the report came in was not at all what I had expected. Both products were bad, very bad. In fact, they contained only about half of what they were supposed to contain. Below are the actual numbers.
Lab Results:
Reforvit-B Lot#1320702 Label Dose: 25mg/mL Actual Dose: 13.1 mg/mL
Testopro L/A Lot#5701 Label Dose: 250mg/mL Actual Dose: 133 mg/mL
Brovel and Tornel
These two companies have been making testosterone for decades now, and bodybuilders have always calculated about a one-third under-dosing with them, as a rule-of-thumb. I was curious if things had changed over the past couple of years. Again, it didn’t seem so. Brovel’s Testosterona 100 was assayed to contain about 30 percent less than what is stated on the label. Tornel’s Testosterone 200 Depot was a little better, coming in at about 20 percent off of the labeled amount. The results aren’t outright terrible though, and we need to keep in mind that these two companies have always had a reputation for this. Their products are not getting worse, but are simply the same quality they have always been. To my knowledge, neither company has ever outright ripped their customers off. You simply must always keep in mind that as a cheaper product (these two companies do make some of the least costly items on the market), it will be a little cheaper in its manufacturing. It is like buying generic. You expect to get a good value with generic products, not necessarily the highest quality. Both companies are still good in my book. The actual results are below.
Lab Results:
Testosterona 100 Lot#3102 Label Dose: 100mg/mL Actual Dose: 71.9mg/mL
Testosterone 200 Depot Lot#181MAY06 Label Dose: 200mg/mL Actual Dose: 160 mg/mL
Coming Home
The toughest part about the trip was coming home. It was not necessarily that I didn’t want the vacation to end, because the last thing it really turned out to be was a vacation. I actually had a lot to do and was anxious to get back to work. The tough part was actually spending the last week traveling around the Caribbean with a suitcase filled with gear— more than $1,000 worth— and having to dump it all down the drain before we docked. I had put it off until the last day, hoping perhaps the boat would decide to just stop somewhere else and we’d get to skip that whole customs “thing.” But that wasn’t turning out to be the case. When it was time to pack up, I had to spend two hours in the bathroom, slowly dumping milliliter after milliliter, tablet after tablet, of valuable product down the drain. It was a horrific sight that you should probably be thankful you didn’t witness. I’m traumatized over the whole event, I think. I have even gotten up in the middle of the night a few times since, screaming “Nooooo!” At least in the end most of it should be a tax write-off, including the wasted gear. I have all my receipts, damn it! I do wonder if anyone has ever been able to write steroids off on their taxes before… Maybe this will be a first?
When it comes to anabolic steroids, there is no country on earth quite like Mexico. Ten years ago, its tiny drug market was at best an afterthought in the minds of bodybuilders, who tended to look at Mexican drugs as low quality. Today, things are very different. The market for steroids in Mexico is the single largest in the world (mainly veterinary drugs), and it exists almost entirely to feed the tremendous demand American athletes have for these agents. (Or maybe Mexico just has more sick pets than any other country in the world, I don’t know). The majority of steroids sold in the U.S. today are either manufactured in Mexico, or smuggled into this country through its borders. American dollars are flowing south by the truckload, feeding an industry that’s getting bigger and more vastly occupied with companies, by the hour. If you want to know what’s going on in the world of steroids, you really need to keep up with what’s going on in Mexico. I, of course, make it my business to do exactly that. In fact, this was my main focus when I hopped on a cruise ship a few weeks ago that was destined for two ports of call in the beautiful land of anabolicos. I needed to pick up some last-minute things for the book (Anabolics 2004), and thought, what the hell, I might as well make a whole big trip out of it. I figured I could use a little quiet time anyway; what better way than to be locked on a cruise ship? It didn’t go quite as planned, though. A picture ESPN took of me during a recent interview would be plastered on the front cover of their magazine three days into the trip, keeping me extremely busy the whole time with business. Needless to say, I didn’t get much rest. But it was an extremely productive seven days anyway; so much so, that I thought I’d turn this month’s column into a “What’s going on in Mexico” piece. Sorry to disappoint you if you were counting on medical journal references this month. It’s all black market update this time, but I think you will find it to be a very interesting update.
The “Big Three”
Denkall, Quality Vet and SYD Group— I refer to them as the “Big Three.” They have earned the distinction, at least in my book, of being the three best steroid manufactures in Mexico right now. This is not based on sales volumes, as all three companies are relatively new and might not quite dominate the market yet. Rather, it’s based on a trust I have in their products. What I mean is, if you buy from one of these companies, you should be able to feel confident of two very important things. First, what is on the label is going to be what is in the bottle. The fill amounts may not always be 100 percent, but each tablet, capsule or milliliter of solution is going to contain the amount of steroid you have paid your good money for. Second, you are going to be protected when buying their products, as they all use intricate security hologram stickers that to date, have never been successfully copied by counterfeiters. By utilizing these three companies, you have access to almost anything you would need and can rest assured your next cycle will include all the expensive components you expect it to, if you stick to them. Below are the current product lists for the three manufacturers.
Denkall
AquaTest testosterone suspension 100 mg/ml 10 ml vial CypioTest 250 testosterone cypionate 250 mg/ml 10 ml vial Oxandrovet oxandrolone 5 mg #100 Oximetalon oxymetholone 75 mg #100 Stanazolic stanozolol 50, 100 mg/ml 20, 10ml vial Stanazolic stanozolol 6mg, 10mg #100, 300 Test 400 testosterone ester blend 400 mg/ml 10 ml vial D-Bol methandrostenolone 10 mg #96, 100, 300D-Bol methandrostenolone 25 mg/ml 10 ml vialDecanandrolen nandrolone decanoate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Denkadiol methandriol dipropionate 75 mg/ml 10 ml vialUltragan boldenone undecylenate 50, 100mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial
Quality Vet
Bold QV boldenone undecylenate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Deca QV nandrolone decanoate 200, 300 mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial Enantat QV testosterone enanthate 250 mg/ml 10, 50 ml vial Propionat QV testosterone propionate 100 mg/ml 10 ml vial Stan QV stanozolol 50, 100 mg/ml 20 ml vial Teston QV testosterone cypionate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Trembolone QV trenbolone acetate 75 mg/ml 10 ml vial
SYD Group
Anabolic BD boldenone undecylenate 100, 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic DN nandrolone cypionate 50, 300 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic NA methandriol (blend) 75 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic ST stanozolol 50 mg/ml 20 ml vial Anabolic TL testosterone cypionate 200 mg/ml 10 ml vial Anabolic TS testosterone suspension 100 mg/ml 20 ml vial
Ttokkyo Trouble
A year ago, Ttokkyo was on top of the Mexican steroid market. But right now, it appears they’re in trouble. If you follow my column you might remember me reporting about the arrest of Ttokkyo’s owner, Dr. Francisco Molina, on ketamine distribution charges last September. The good news is that today, nearly a year later, the company is still operating in spite of this. But things seem a little shaky for them at the moment. Conspicuously absent on the black market are the more expensive products from Ttokkyo, such as their long-heralded Primo-Plus, or their highly favored trenbolone acetate injectable. Instead, they seem focused on pumping out the more “standard” and less costly drugs, such as their testosterone, nandrolone and methandrostenolone products. Furthermore, a very troubling fake was presented to me; it’s pictured here. The truly disturbing thing about this Ttokkyo nandrolone knock-off is that it does have the proper hologram sticker and even the custom imprinted bottles the company uses. Since it’s highly unlikely Ttokkyo gets its bottles and hologram stickers from the same place, I am left to conclude that someone inside the company has stolen these valuable manufacturing materials; perhaps a disgruntled ex-partner or employee. What they are putting into the knockoffs is anyone’s guess right now, but it draws into question the whole line for many who rely on these stickers to protect them. This particular fake does stand out for other reasons (the Neapolitan Mastiff is missing for one), but since we don’t know how good the next one will look, we all need to take caution with the whole Ttokkyo line moving forward.
Lab Testing Disappointments
The trip also offered me an excellent opportunity to have products sent in to a third-party laboratory for analysis. A lot has been changing on the market down there and I wanted to know if the quality of some of the older companies’ products had been improving. You might remember the general attitude American bodybuilders used to have about Mexican veterinary gear, namely that it was notoriously under-dosed. As I mentioned in the opening of this article, several companies can be highly trusted in the market right now. I was curious if the competition was causing some of the other companies to follow suit. It turns out, much to my dismay, most were not— at least among the products I tested. Let’s go over a few of the more conspicuous results.
Loeffler
From Loeffler I tested both a 10-milliliter bottle of Reforvit-B, with brand new packaging to assure it was a recent item, and a bottle of their incredibly high-dosed (250mg/ml) testosterone propionate product Testopro L/A. I was basically curious to see if they actually crammed all 250 milligrams of propionate into this product and I decided I’d send in some Reforvit while I was at it, just to make sure it was hitting the labeled dose. What I saw when the report came in was not at all what I had expected. Both products were bad, very bad. In fact, they contained only about half of what they were supposed to contain. Below are the actual numbers.
Lab Results:
Reforvit-B Lot#1320702 Label Dose: 25mg/mL Actual Dose: 13.1 mg/mL
Testopro L/A Lot#5701 Label Dose: 250mg/mL Actual Dose: 133 mg/mL
Brovel and Tornel
These two companies have been making testosterone for decades now, and bodybuilders have always calculated about a one-third under-dosing with them, as a rule-of-thumb. I was curious if things had changed over the past couple of years. Again, it didn’t seem so. Brovel’s Testosterona 100 was assayed to contain about 30 percent less than what is stated on the label. Tornel’s Testosterone 200 Depot was a little better, coming in at about 20 percent off of the labeled amount. The results aren’t outright terrible though, and we need to keep in mind that these two companies have always had a reputation for this. Their products are not getting worse, but are simply the same quality they have always been. To my knowledge, neither company has ever outright ripped their customers off. You simply must always keep in mind that as a cheaper product (these two companies do make some of the least costly items on the market), it will be a little cheaper in its manufacturing. It is like buying generic. You expect to get a good value with generic products, not necessarily the highest quality. Both companies are still good in my book. The actual results are below.
Lab Results:
Testosterona 100 Lot#3102 Label Dose: 100mg/mL Actual Dose: 71.9mg/mL
Testosterone 200 Depot Lot#181MAY06 Label Dose: 200mg/mL Actual Dose: 160 mg/mL
Coming Home
The toughest part about the trip was coming home. It was not necessarily that I didn’t want the vacation to end, because the last thing it really turned out to be was a vacation. I actually had a lot to do and was anxious to get back to work. The tough part was actually spending the last week traveling around the Caribbean with a suitcase filled with gear— more than $1,000 worth— and having to dump it all down the drain before we docked. I had put it off until the last day, hoping perhaps the boat would decide to just stop somewhere else and we’d get to skip that whole customs “thing.” But that wasn’t turning out to be the case. When it was time to pack up, I had to spend two hours in the bathroom, slowly dumping milliliter after milliliter, tablet after tablet, of valuable product down the drain. It was a horrific sight that you should probably be thankful you didn’t witness. I’m traumatized over the whole event, I think. I have even gotten up in the middle of the night a few times since, screaming “Nooooo!” At least in the end most of it should be a tax write-off, including the wasted gear. I have all my receipts, damn it! I do wonder if anyone has ever been able to write steroids off on their taxes before… Maybe this will be a first?