Aziz "Zyzz" Shavershian was once Australia's No.1 online bodybuilding celebrity. He emigrated with his parents from Russia to Australia at an early age, and quickly developed an online cult following after touting the healthy lifestyle that allowed for his impeccably muscular body _ good nutrition, good training and an admiration for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
The part-time stripper and model told the media he never used steroids; his sculpted body came from a strict diet and stricter training regimen, he said.
So to his admirers' surprise, he dropped dead in a Pattaya sauna in August, 2011, aged only 22. An autopsy confirmed Mr Shavershian died of cardiac arrest.
Mr Shavershian's death highlighted the surge in popularity of so-called "steroid holidays". He was on holiday when he met another bodybuilder, Tim "Sharky" Ward, just months after his brother, Said "Chestbrah" Shavershian, was found guilty of steroid possession back in Australia.
Mr Ward later spoke to media saying he had urged Mr Shavershian to slow down on steroid use days before his death.
Numerous Australian bodybuilders later came forward with admissions of taking holidays in Pattaya and islands in the South to "cycle" _ taking combinations of steroids every 48 to 72 hours for up to two months, until the user is bulked up enough to return to his home country.
But the holiday _ for many such as Mr Shavershian _ has a dangerous, if not fatal, side. "Guys don't know what they're buying. This is a huge industry and Thailand is well known for making a quick buck on copy and low quality goods," Mr Ward told Spectrum.
Now a familiar face in Pattaya, the Kiwi bodybuilder moved to Thailand after being drummed out of the state of Queensland for illegal business practices _ where the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) reports the seizure of steroids is disproportionately high compared to the rest of the country.
Mr Ward added that buying steroids over the counter in Pattaya, whether they are real or counterfeit, is "like buying sweets".
''They [buyers] don't need a prescription. They can just walk in to a pharmacy and buy what they need,'' he said.
The massive man, weighing 130kg and covered in traditional Maori tattoos, said he only began using steroids when he reached 40 years of age.
STEROIDS, CHICKEN AND GIRLS
Chris, not his real name, has been dividing his time between his home country and Pattaya for nearly a decade, after a family member opened a training gym in the resort town. He had noticed that most who came to the gym for training holidays were from Australia and would stay between one and two months. But it's not just the ready access to steroids that bring bodybuilders to Pattaya, Chris said, but the low price of a high protein diet, alcohol and prostitutes under an alluring sun.
''Everything that goes with steroid use is a lot cheaper here. For example, food _ people can have five to six meals here, all perfect nutritional value for someone who is on a steroid cycle, for as little as 300 baht, chicken and rice, etcetera. The gyms here, while perhaps not to the standard of Western countries, are very cheap and have adequate equipment.
''Also, a lot of these people come here for a proper holiday _ to enjoy the girls, bars, beaches, weather _ but will also use the holiday to stock up on cheap and readily available steroids.''
Some pharmacies in Pattaya boldly advertise the brand names of steroids on shop-front windows. One, opposite a pub on Beach Road Soi 7, advertises Andriol, which is testosterone in tablet form, and Testoviron, testosterone in injectable form.
Both are classified by the ACC in its latest Illicit Drug Data Report as anabolic-androgenic steroids that are ''synthetically produced variants of the naturally occurring male sex hormone testosterone''.
Several types of steroids are usually combined in an attempt to maximise the muscle-building effects _ sometimes, with weight-loss drugs, too _ in a practice known as ''stacking''. The drugs advertised at the pharmacy on Soi 7 increase muscle mass by increasing male sex hormone levels.
Chris said that the pharmacies advertising and offering steroids in Pattaya rarely require a prescription. But even for the handful of pharmacies that do require a prescription, he said, clinics in Pattaya ''wouldn't hesitate in writing a prescription for a fee''. ''Much like the medical certificates you can obtain for 100 baht needed for a driving test here, which are given without any medical checks being done _ just handed over for a 100 baht,'' he said.
Tops Pharmacy, in South Pattaya on 2nd Road, was raided by police in 2010 for supplying vials of steroids from distributor Thaiger Pharma. But sources said that the pharmacy was still well known among amateur bodybuilders looking to stock up on steroids. Sources said the pharmacy supplied customers with a visual catalogue featuring various forms of steroids. The pharmacists often talked the customers through the process of bulking up if the catalogue didn't provide enough information to amateur users.
HOME AND AWAY
According to the ACC, the US continues to be the major source of steroids seized in Australia. The most recent data, from 2011-12, includes Thailand as a ''prominent'' embarkation point. Both Mr Ward and Chris said that Australians in Pattaya sometimes stockpile the drugs and post them home.
In Australia, steroids are classified as dangerous drugs and unlawfully possessing or supplying them is a criminal offence.
The country has been rocked by recent revelations of professional sports teams such as the Essendon Bombers in the AFL and NRL club Cronulla Sharks using banned performance and image enhancing drugs (PIEDs). Cronulla was named with five other NRL clubs by the ACC after a sweep detected players using prohibited substances.
There is also growing concern that amateur bodybuilders and sportsmen from Australia and as far afield as the UK are taking advantage of Thailand's lax regulations to bulk up. Jarrad Fisher told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last May that on his steroid holiday to Pattaya, he grew from 70kg to a fully fledged bodybuilder. And although he was caught bringing steroids home to Australia, he still planned to continue his cycles in Pattaya.
But the drug-and-gym regimen can have fatal results. Matthew Dear, a 17-year-old rugby player, died within weeks of starting to take anabolic steroids procured on the black market; media speculate the drugs were shipped from Thailand.
''Most guys come here for a cycle and will usually leave with a personal amount of steroids to keep them going a while back in Australia,'' Mr Ward said. ''But then there's the other side of it. There are guys based in Pattaya making money posting steroids to Australia and other countries too. Occasionally the police bust these guys but most are making enough money to pay off the right people.''
Chris added that ''people do send steroids back to their home countries'' and in the past turned to a private parcel service.
''A few years ago there was a post office here [in Pattaya] that guaranteed the delivery of small parcels, but the cost for postage was a lot higher than if one was to post through the Thai post office themselves.''
Chris was not sure if the service still existed, but said that based on the people he has met in Pattaya: ''I have also heard about Customs confiscating them [the steroids] at Suvarnabhumi airport, though I believe they successfully get through Customs here more than they get seized.''
ACC data shows that the number of steroids seized at the border increased by nearly 60% in 2011-12, which is the highest reported number in the past decade. The number of hormones detected at the border _ such as human growth hormone, used to increase muscle size and strength _ more than doubled and is also the highest reported number in the past decade. National steroid seizures and arrests increased and are the highest on record.
The ACC's Illicit Drug Data Report said: ''The worldwide trafficking and use of PIEDs is a complex, large and highly profitable market.
''It is also clear that a complex supply and distribution network exists to satisfy the strong demand for anabolic steroids, peptides and hormones by sub-elite and recreational athletes, bodybuilders and, increasingly, the ageing population.''
A 65-year-old man had his luggage searched after arriving at Sydney airport on Christmas Day from Thailand, according to local media. A range of steroids were both hidden in his luggage and strapped to his body. On Boxing Day, a metal elephant statue passing through the New South Wales International Mail Facility was discovered to have 12,000 steroid tablets inside. It was posted from Thailand.
Richard Grant, acting executive director of operations at the ACC, told Spectrum that ''the US Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] has worked closely with Thai law enforcement in joint investigations, resulting in the successful disruption of several international drug trafficking organisations''.
In 2011, he said, ''An investigation resulted in a Thai company ceasing production and destroying all stockpiles of anabolic-androgenic steroids and precursor chemicals effectively removing 26 million steroid tablets from the illicit market.''
The DEA has an office at the US embassy in Bangkok and works primarily with narcotics suppression. It did not return a request for comment.
POWERLESS PRESCRIPTIONS
The regulation of steroids falls under the Bureau of Drug Control of the Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Any legal action taken against the illicit distribution of drugs is imposed by the bureau under the Drug Act BE 2510 (1967).
The bureau classifies anabolic steroids as ''dangerous drugs'' _ meaning they can be dispensed by licensed pharmacists, without a prescription, for the drug's on-label purpose.
''It's not like the West,'' said Prapassorn Thanaphollert, the acting director of the FDA's drug control bureau. ''In Thailand, an over-the-counter drug must be sold in a pharmacy, a dangerous drug must be dispensed by a pharmacist and specially controlled drugs require a prescription or are administered in hospitals.''
A pharmacist is not allowed to dispense a dangerous drug for its off-label purpose. Testosterone, which is used for hormone replacement in cases of mass muscle deficiency, for example resulting from cancer or Aids, cannot be prescribed for building muscle _ and that has legal ramifications, albeit small.
The punishment for dispensing drugs off-label is a fine of 1,000 to 5,000 baht, which pales in comparison to selling unregistered drugs: A fine of up to three years in prison and/or a fine of 5,000 baht.
Ms Prapassorn explained that pharmacists operated on an honour system and there was little enforcement to check that they would dispense drugs for the intended use. Customers who witnessed malpractice were expected to report it to the Pharmacy Council, she said, and the FDA would take action. She added that pharmacists who dispensed drugs were required to be inside the pharmacy for three hours per day by law, to prevent potential moonlighting between jobs _ which was more popular in the past.
''Anywhere in the world you can find bad guys, but here we expect that pharmacists should honour their own profession,'' Ms Prapassorn said.
But she also plainly admitted that Thai regulation of dangerous drugs was too lax.
''We're trying to improve the regulations, but it takes decades. It took decades to get to the Drug Act,'' she said. ''We need a new set of regulations.''
DRUG TEST
The ease of access to steroids is not localised to Pattaya and the South. At Charoen Pharmacy on Sukhumvit Road between sois 2 and 4, Spectrum was able to obtain anabolic-androgenic steroids in a matter of minutes while also purchasing a dangerous weight-loss drug _ all the while the store was crowded with customers at 6pm on a Tuesday. Each drug was in plain sight behind the pharmacy counter.
When the reporter asked what drugs would make him ''stronger'', ''able to build muscle'' and ''to have a better body'', the pharmacist placed three drugs on the counter: Reduce, Testoviron and Andriol. He said to take one 15mg pill of Reduce every morning to lose fat _ the drug is a brand-name for Sibutramine, banned from markets in Australia, Canada, China, the EU, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK, the US and in Thailand for side effects that include sudden death and heart attack.
The pharmacist said to take the weight-loss pills in conjunction with four tablets of Andriol Testocaps every day _ 40mg of testosterone undecanoate _ two of them in the morning and the other two at night. The pharmacist instructed the Testoviron Depot _ which came in a box of 20 injectable ampoules, 250mg of testosterone enantate in each _ be taken once a week.
The combination of two steroids, in this case in oral and injectable forms, is a common method of stacking.
When inspected by the Thai FDA, it was discovered that the licence for the Sibutramine was unregistered. The agency said it had voluntarily revoked the licence, which means pharmacists are banned from selling it.
The Thai FDA said both steroids were registered with licences and labelled on the box in Thai as a ''dangerous drug'', but it contravened the Drug Act to dispense them for off-label use.
The US FDA warns that drugs that mimic the actions of testosterone ''are known to have a range of serious adverse effects on many organ systems, and in many cases the damage is not reversible''. Ali Mohamadi, a medical officer at the FDA's Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products, wrote that side effects include fertility problems, impotence, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and heart and liver abnormalities. He added that while men could experience shrinkage of the testes or the development of breast tissue, girls may develop masculine qualities including facial hair _ and both are at risk of developing acne.
The amount of testosterone drugs a bodybuilder might take during steroid cycles while in Thailand is a ''grey area'', Chris said.
Instead of taking one injection per week and four pills per day like the pharmacist in Bangkok suggested, ''A top-level bodybuilder could take an injection every day along with 10 pills a day, anywhere from six to 16 weeks.''
The price of the drugs in Bangkok came to 4,040 baht. Sixty capsules of Andriol, which would last 15 days under the pharmacist's directions, were only 840 baht; outside of Thailand, online distributors put the reduced price of the drug at no less than 3,000 baht. The Testoviron injections came at 3,000 baht _ a quarter of the price of what the ampoules are sold for abroad. The 10-day supply of Reduce, for 200 baht, less than half the price it is advertised for online.
But even at this reduced cost in Thailand, bodybuilders from abroad are still dropping wads of cash on steroid holidays and pumping up the illicit business of selling the drugs.
''I do know of people who have spent 100,000 baht or more in just one visit to the pharmacy,'' Chris said.
Ms Prapassorn from the Thai FDA said that in an area like Pattaya where weight training is popular, the off-label abuse of steroids is of grave concern.
''These people are using 10 to 100 times more than what's indicated,'' she said. ''Imagine the danger they're putting themselves in.''
SPEAKING OUT: Tim ‘Sharky’ Ward says counterfeit steroids are rife in Pattaya.
STEROID VICTIM: Australian bodybuilder Aziz ‘Zyzz’ Shavershian died in a Pattaya sauna aged 22.
EASY PICKINGS: A pharmacy on Beach Road Soi 7, Pattaya, left, and a pharmacy on Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok, where Andriol and Testoviron, which are forms of testosterone, can be purchased.
