A man adept in bodybuilding -

SUPERSTOCK / SUPERSTOCK / SIPA

  • A 32-year-old man was sentenced to three years in prison for organizing hormone trafficking in Marseille.

  • The fifteen co-defendants were ordered to pay 340,000 euros to the Caisse Primaire Assurance Maladie des Bouches-du-Rhône.

340,000 euros in repair at the Caisse Primaire Assurance Maladie des Bouches-du-Rhône.

The organizer of growth hormone trafficking within the Marseille bodybuilding community was sentenced on Tuesday to three years in prison, in particular for illegal exercise of the pharmacy and fraud to the detriment of social security.

An arrest warrant has been issued against this 32-year-old man, a very regular client of a Marseille gym, who had not appeared in court.

He was also fined 10,000 euros.

In addition, sentences ranging from four months suspended prison to two years imprisonment were pronounced against fifteen co-convicts, falsifiers of prescriptions and collectors of Vital cards intended to be issued the fraudulent prescriptions.

Two networks

Two different networks had been handed over by pharmacists from the Bouches-du-Rhône hundreds of boxes of Umatrope on the basis of blank prescriptions stolen in the office of an endocrinologist at the North Hospital in Marseille or in that of 'an oncologist from a private hospital.

Highly sought after by bodybuilders anxious to develop their muscle mass and bone mineral density, this growth hormone is sold in pharmacies from 188 to 720 euros per box, depending on the dosage.

Excessive and prolonged consumption can lead to serious complications such as thyroid tumors, diabetes or morphological deformities.

A maintenance officer at the North Hospital, author of the theft of blank prescriptions, was sentenced to two years in prison, including eighteen months suspended.

He had admitted to acting at the request of the instigator of the main network.

"These trafficking undermines our health system"

A second network had been brought to light thanks to the intervention of a pharmacist surprised to see a weightlifter present him with a prescription for growth hormone made by a cancer specialist.

The defendants had contested to engage in a resale but the collection of hundreds of boxes was not, according to the prosecution, compatible with personal consumption.

In its requisitions, the prosecution of the public health pole of the Marseille judicial court had emphasized the seriousness of these actions, from an economic as well as health point of view.

"These organized drug trafficking undermines our efficient health system," noted the prosecutor during the debates.

The court condemned the defendants to pay more than 340,000 euros to the Caisse Primaire Assurance Maladie des Bouches-du-Rhône in compensation for their financial damage and 5,000 euros to the National Council of the Order of Pharmacies who had become a civil party.

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