Steroid Bust May Point to Steelers
Posted Feb 27th 2007 11:06PM by JJ Cooper
Filed under: Steelers, AFC North
It's just starting to hit the national media and it's on the Fanhouse main page, but the Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union is reporting that a drug lab in Orlando, Fla., was raided Tuesday as part of a New York State grand jury investigation into Internet drug sales.
This is where the news involves the Steelers. One of the persons interviewed with the investigation is Richard Ryzde, a team physician for the Steelers. According to the Times-Union, Ryzde was interviewed because the police believed he had charged $150,000 to his personal credit card to purchase human growth hormone and testosterone.
As a doctor, Ryzde has the right to order and possess HGH and other prescription medications. But the investigators wanted to find out why he had charged the drugs to his credit card.
``The doctors pretty much have reign to do anything they want,'' said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
But Catizone, who has served as an expert witness for the DEA and other law enforcement agencies in criminal trials, said the credit card purchases raised questions.
``I've never seen a doctor pull out his or her own credit card ... it just doesn't make sense,'' Catizone said. ``Unless you are trying to build frequent-flyer miles on a credit card, I'm not sure why they'd be using a personal credit card.''
The Steelers declined to comment to the paper after a couple of weeks of requests for a comment. The story has no other details about Ryzde or the Steelers for now. But it seems to be a story worth keeping an eye on in upcoming weeks.
