Human Growth Hormone Enters Realm of Illegal Drugs

Heroin, Cocaine, Crystal Meth, Human Growth Hormone - wait- Human Growth Hormone?

What's that doing in this list of illegal substances?

Well it looks like when it comes down to a product that is reputed to slow the aging process, then a lot of people consider "legal" to be just a minor technicality.

We're talking about of injectable, synthetic HGH, and its growing popularity. Seems like the more it's been advertised, the more it's being abused. So much so that the Feds (as in the Drug Enforcement Agency, DEA) have begun scrutinizing the situation.

Since drug suppliers the world over know that the USA is the choice market for their wares, it should come as no surprise that illegal supplies of synthetic human growth hormone are pouring in from foreign sources. The increased misuse has prompted a federal crackdown on the new influx of illegal HGH.

Unfortunately, as so often happens, rather than stopping misuse, the opposite seems to have occurred. Sources from a recent Associated Press investigation say the crackdown appears to have produced record sales of the drug by some of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies.

The federal effort, according to the investigation, which began in 2006, actually worked almost too well, reducing the illicit flow of unregulated Human Growth Hormone (HGH) from Mexico, China, and India.

So because nature abhors a vacuum, major U.S. pharmaceutical companies have stepped up to fill the gap. They have amped up production to satisfy the craving of the growing U.S. market, both legitimate U.S. users and not-so-legal abusers. The latter group mostly composed of persons who take the drug in hopes of that it is an anti-aging miracle concoction.

HGH does have legitimate use. Legally, sales in the U.S. are limited by law to treat a rare growth defect in children and a handful of uncommon conditions like short bowel syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome, a congenital disease that causes reduced muscle tone and a lack of hormones in sex glands.

However the Associated Press reports that at least half of last year's sales most likely went to patients not legally entitled to get the drug. In fact, U.S. pharmacies processed nearly double the expected number of prescriptions.

Of concern are a number of documented side-effects from synthetic HGH, such as enlargement of breast tissue, carpal tunnel syndrome and swelling of hands and feet, as well as greater risks of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.