If you want it, you can very likely get it online. The internet gives anyone the ability to purchase just about anything and have it shipped right to their door. Sure, regulations exist for certain items like drugs and alcohol, but if you’re savvy, you can probably get around them. When it comes to making money, some people don’t care who they’re selling to. As long as they line their pockets, they’re happy. That means kids get their hands on things they shouldn’t, which can have dangerous consequences. A Canadian father claims his high school-aged son ordered hormones online without any problem. That’s some very scary stuff.
The dad noticed an odd package for his son.
The unnamed father from Ottawa told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the package arrived at his home in January and something looked strange.
“We noticed that there was a package coming, and my son had indicated that it was private. When it arrived, it had been customs-cleared … and it sounded like it had liquid in it, and so it raised the flag,” the father explained.
The teenager, who struggles with body image issues, reportedly ordered enclomiphene citrate solution, which can be used as a testosterone booster. It’s expressly forbidden in Canada.
The teen had no problem obtaining the drug.
His father told CBC his son ordered the drug online using his parents’ credit card. He had it delivered to their home without any problems. Although the father appreciates his son’s commitment to physical fitness, there were plenty of red flags.
“He plays sports and is very good in the sports that he plays, and yet he wants to get even bigger and better and to achieve those results faster,” the father said. “The advertisements online offered an expedited pathway to … success and to bigger muscles and better results at the gym, and I think he was trying to take a shortcut towards it.”
What the father found in the package disgusted him.
The father said that among the most disturbing things was a label on the package that reads “Research material: Not for human consumption.” This infuriated the father, who wants to know how in the heck his son got this stuff in the first place.
“I was really upset, really disgusted,” the man shared with CBC. “So given that they’re not for human consumption and a child ordered them and had them customs-cleared … we were very concerned.”
The boy’s mom destroyed the drugs, so the teen never ingested them, but who knows what could have happened if he had.
The teen can no longer purchase from the company.
CBC opted not to name the company to discourage other teens from ordering from it. The father contacted the business, which refunded his money and barred him from ever ordering from the site again. In addition, the company claimed its website expressly bars anyone younger than 18 from ordering.
That’s all fine and good, but who is really monitoring that? Clearly, no one.
The father wants to warn other parents.
Thankfully, his son is fine, but the shipment is opening up a new dialogue in the family.
“This was a blind spot for me,” he said. “I would have talked to him about what’s happening in the gym, what the gym culture was, and … whether there were any form of drugs that were being used.”
Body image isn’t just an issue for women; men suffer too. It’s so important that we have these talks with our kids so they know there is no quick fix and ordering drugs online is a huge red flag. This family got so lucky. We can’t imagine what could have happened to this teen.
