What I’m curious about is, if it comes out that I used anabolic steroids at some point in my life, without a prescription, am I going to be facing a grand jury? Or do I have to be caught actually in posession of the substance?
Case in point: Barry Bonds. AFAIK, he’s been indicted for lying under oath about steroid use, and not about actual steroid use. But is he now, or is he going to be, on the hook for actually *using[i/] them (from a criminal standpoint, not an internal MLB rules violation standpoint)?
Compare to marijuana: AFAIK, if I get caught buying, selling, or posessing the stuff, I’m going to be criminally liable. But if I walk into a police station and announce that I blazed a spliff last night, no one’s going to care, whereas if I walk in and say I killed someone last night, someone’s going to want to have a word.
STANDARD DISCLAIMERS: I don’t use anabolic steroids, I haven’t killed anybody, you’re not my lawyer, I’m not your client, blah blah blah.
They are controlled substances, like heroin, cocaine, etc.
What happens if you fess up to using one of those? Let’s say you worked somewhere that was under investigation for wide spread drug use and distribution, like…oh, I don’t know…major league baseball. Congress has oversight of major league baseball because of it’s special exemption from Congress for the way it operates (anti trust laws come into play, I believe). Let’s say Congress fears a controlled substance is being used widely and distributed…
Now your problem is much much different that the ordinary guy who admits to an officer that he did a line of coke las year.
Just a WAG, I’m sure there is some kind of statute of limitations on drug use/possession, whereas there isn’t on murder.
And if you walked into a police station and said that you fired one up last night, I’m sure that the cops and the DA agree that such a case would be plagued with problems if they pursued it, and the crime that was prosecuted would be so minor as to not worry about it.
Past drug use isn’t a crime even if it happened last week, You could find the Lord, walk into your local police station and admit that you smoked three joints, did two lines of cocaine and added a little meth at the end last Saturday night and they can’t do anything at all. The only time it would be a problem is if you have to give testimony with the possible penalty of perjury or if you have to answer to a private organization.