In a story reported right here this past Monday, a Sports Illustrated article linked several major WWE superstars to a series of government steroid investigations (for quotes from the SI article, click here). It was revealed that after documents were viewed by SI reporters Luis Fernando Llosa and L. Jon Wertheim, Dr. David Wilbirt of Arizona (who is under investigation from the DEA for writing 3,879 prescriptions for patients that requested drugs over the Internet) was linked with Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Oscar Gutierrez (Rey Mysterio), Randy Orton, Adam Copeland (Edge) and Shane Helms (Gregory Helms) and at least five other unnamed individuals.
Copeland and Helms were listed as receiving HGH (not anabolic steroids), while Guerrero was listed as having been billed and sent stanazol (Winstrol) and Gutierrez (Mysterio) for allegedly a prescription for nadrolone (Decadurabolin) and stanazol. Orton received prescriptions for six different drugs from the same two doctors that appeared in the story.
Dr. Wilbert, who license has already been suspended, stated that the wrestlers had blood work and lab work done before they came to see him. It should be noted that all of these documents came from 2004 and 2005, well before WWE enforced its new Wellness Drug Policy following the death of Guerrero in 2005. All of the drugs listed above are illegal under the WWE's current drug policy.
The aforementioned WWE wrestlers don't appear to be in any trouble as the government is attempting to shut down the distributors and not arrest the athletes. WWE's Vice President of Corporate Communications Gary Davis stated that the company policy does not allow for prescription drugs to be obtained from the Internet. SI attempted to get further comments from the wrestlers involved in this investigation, but Davis was the only person who spoke with them about the matter. However, WWE did issue this statement on WWE.com:
All of the allegations set forth in a recent SI.com article mentioning WWE predate the initiation of WWE’s current Talent Wellness Program. This WWE program prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs, as well as other prescription drugs which can be abused, if taken for other than a legitimate medical purpose pursuant to a valid prescription from a licensed and treating physician. For purposes of WWE's policy, prescriptions obtained over the Internet and/or from suppliers of prescription drugs from the Internet are not considered to have been given for a legitimate medical purpose.