Anabolics Q&A #2 - Is this Real Stanozolol?

Q: I’ve enclosed an empty packaging sample of stanozolol from Sid Group. This is supposed to be an Australian veterinary company, but the product (Estanozolol) looks sketchy. There is a cartoon Kangaroo on the pouch. Can you tell me if this steroid is real?

A: Unfortunately, the product you have sent in is a counterfeit. This is the most appropriate thing to call it, as the underground producer has chosen to use the name of a real drug company. I generally reserve the term “fake” for products that bear the name of a manufacturer that does not exist, and “underground” for those produced by a known illicit underground laboratory.

To give you a little background, SYD Group was a very popular manufacturer (among the black market items) at one time. During the early 2000s, the company was exporting a large volume of its steroid products to Mexico. From here, they would be readily smuggled over the border into the U.S. During that time, the vast majority of steroid items sold in Mexico were ending up in the United States (a trend that likely remains today).

Oddly enough, a cartoon Kangaroo with big muscles was really used for the Mexican export steroids from SYD Group. I always thought this was pushing the limits, kind of like when Camel cigarettes used a cartoon character (“Joe Camel”) in its advertising. Camel received heavy criticism for promoting to kids, of course, and pulled the ads. SYD Group did the same with its steroid products, after the Operation Gear Grinder raids that closed down most of the Mexican veterinary market.

While SYD still makes some steroid products for the Australian veterinary market, these items are not readily exported to western countries, due to tight government controls. Today, Australia is arguably the nation with the second strictest policies concerning anabolic steroids, second only to the United States. Large-scale diversion is no longer commonplace.

Furthermore, none of the SYD Group steroid products still contain the blatant muscular cartoon character on the packaging. This marketing was used for its Mexican exports exclusively. I think it is worth noting as well, that even when the SYD Group was making its line of anabolic steroid products for the Mexican market, they made an injectable form of stanozolol only. I’ve enclosed pictures of the old real item, along with your counterfeit pouch, for the sake of comparison.

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