The presidents of New Jersey's two largest police unions support adding anabolic steroids to the list of drugs for which tens of thousands of officers are randomly tested each year if union officials are given a role in crafting the policy, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. The qualified endorsements by Anthony Wieners and Ed Brannigan, who represent more than 49,000 officers between them, could add momentum to calls for expanded testing after Star-Ledger reports last week showing hundreds of law enforcement officers and firefighters obtained steroids and human growth hormone from a doctor who often prescribed them illegally.
In most cases, the officers and firefighters paid for the drugs with their taxpayer-funded health plans, leaving the public with a bill that runs into the millions of dollars. “I personally feel that every officer should be tested for substances – steroids, any type of medication,” said Wieners, president of the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, with some 33,000 members across the state. “We're not trying to run away from the issue.” Brannigan, who represents more than 16,000 officers as president of the state Fraternal Order of Police, said that while he doesn't perceive steroid use as a widespread problem in law enforcement, the union could be persuaded to go along with a testing policy.