Operation Cyber Juice: DEA Special Agent James Hunt Says Steroids are Big, Bad and Scary Drugs

James Hunt, the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Field Division, has been in the news a lot lately. SAC Hunt lives every day to fight the nation’s never-ending “war on drugs”. The war on drugs is not just about cocaine and heroin and marijuana anymore. It has expanded its resource allocation to included a targeted “war on steroids” too.

SAC Hunt has shown that he is more than willing to go after steroids with the same fervor. Hunt doesn’t seem to know much about anabolic steroids. He just knows that they are big, bad and scary drugs. He has apparently even convinced himself that they are just as bad as heroin and cocaine. The truth be damned. Any crazy belief system that gives purpose to a life putting steroid users behind bars will do for Hunt.

SAC Hunt’s involvement in Operation Cyber Juice resulted in some priceless quotes about the dangers he thinks go along with steroids. Operation Cyber Juice was the code name given to a series of 30 different DEA investigations spanning 20 different states. It resulted in the shutdown of 16 underground steroid laboratories (UGLs), the arrests of 90 indvidiuals and the confiscation of 134,000 dosage units of steroids, 636 kilograms of raw steroid powder and 8,200 liters of unbottled injectable steroids.

As the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA New York Field Division, Hunt spearheaded the investigation into a New York-based UGL that become the individual investigation most closely associated with Operation Cyber Juice. The New York UGL was the most substantial of all the Operation Cyber Juice busts leading to ten indictments.

In October 2016, the Department of Justice released a press release that quoted SAC Hunt’s assessment of the steroid bust. Hunt wasted no time demonizing steroids. He implied steroids were just as dangerous as cocaine and heroin.

“Every day, 114 people die due to drug overdose, and law enforcement has committed our resources to identify, investigate and arrest those who distribute all illegal drugs,” Hunt said. “Similar to the consequences of any illegal drug, the repeated use of steroids leads to addiction, shame, embarrassment, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and jail.”

Hunt’s statement gave the clear impression that bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids could accidentally overdose and die! Of course, no one has ever died from an acute overdose of anabolic steroids. It is impossible for all intents and purposes.

In November 2016, SAC Hunt doubled down on his assertion that the side effects of anabolic steroids were comparable to other controlled substances. Hunt was even more specific in describing how deadly the use of steroids could be for bodybuilders.

“Using steroids or any synthetically derived controlled substance without regulation is like playing Russian roulette,” Hunt said. “Root used his drug trafficking to distribute unregulated anabolic steroids, putting other people’s lives at risk.”

So there you have it. The risks of dying from the use of steroids is like playing Russian Roulette. SAC Hunt wants to convince you that one out of every six injections of synthetic steroids will result in death!