Could I face disciplinary action for using supplements/prohormones?

Full question:

I am currently employed by the U.S government in federal law enforcement. While I was in college, I used supplements/prohormones, up until the ban of prohormones in 2005. Now that you have my background. Here is my question? I am currently taking a product called Epidrol by Genera Supplements, it is sold by BodyBuilding.com, which is a legitimate retailer of nutritional supplements. Currently, Epidrol is legal and not included in the banned list of prohormones. I checked with Bodybuilding.com and they informed me that they could not sell anything illegal. I also checked with the manufacturer and it is legal. Just for your information, the companies that solicit these products get around the ban by changing the chemical make-up of the product. For example, Superdrol, once a great product, now banned. However, the companies have reacted by altering the chemical compound in Superdrol and putting it back out on the market with a different name and a different chemical make-up, this loophole makes it legal. In my agency, they test for THC, COC, OPI, AMP, and Meth. Epidrol obviously does not contain any of these products. However, it is a legal anabolic substance. Could I face disciplinary action to include termination if they decided to test me for anabolic substances. My theory is the answer is no. The reason for my theory is because first it is a legal product sold to the general public. Second, as long as I informed the drug screen facility that I was taking the product, I would be fine. In addition, would not be discrimination to test just one individual for anabolic substances and not the rest of the employees.

• Category: Employment
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: National

Answer:

Drug and alcohol testing is also used in the workplace for safety and other reasons. It may be required as a condition of employment, or conducted randomly among existing employees. Drug testing in the private sector is less constrained than it is among government employers who must comply with the due process requirements and search and seizure provisions of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Challenges to employee discharges as the results of such testing have involved issues of disability discrimination, but are often upheld if a valid corporate purpose for the discharge can be presented.

Employment discrimination is based upon "suspect classifications"- age, sex, disability, race, nationality, and religion. Random testing alone, not based on one of these classifications, doesn't amount to illegal discrimination. Without knowing the chemical makeup, I am unable to determine if the substance is legal. The following is the definition of anabolic steroids under the federal Controlled Substances Act:

(A) The term “anabolic steroid” means any drug or hormonal substance, chemically and pharmacologically related to testosterone (other than estrogens, progestins, corticosteroids, and dehydroepiandrosterone), and includes—

(i) androstanediol—

(I) 3b,17b-dihydroxy-5a-androstane; and
(II) 3a,17b-dihydroxy-5a-androstane;

(ii) androstanedione (5a-androstan-3,17-dione); (iii) androstenediol—

(I) 1-androstenediol (3b,17b-dihydroxy-5a-androst-1-ene);
(II) 1-androstenediol (3a,17b-dihydroxy-5a-androst-1-ene);
(III) 4-androstenediol (3b,17b-dihydroxy-androst-4-ene); and
(IV) 5-androstenediol (3b,17b-dihydroxy-androst-5-ene);

(iv) androstenedione—

(I) 1-androstenedione ([5a]-androst-1-en-3,17-dione);
(II) 4-androstenedione (androst-4-en-3,17-dione); and
(III) 5-androstenedione (androst-5-en-3,17-dione);

(v) bolasterone (7a,17a-dimethyl-17b-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(vi) boldenone (17b-hydroxyandrost-1,4,-diene-3-one); (vii) calusterone (7b,17a-dimethyl-17b-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(viii) clostebol (4-chloro-17b-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(ix) dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (4-chloro-17b-hydroxy-17a-methyl-androst-1,4-dien-3-one);
(x) *1-dihydrotestosterone (a.k.a. “1-testosterone”) (17b-hydroxy-5a-androst-1-en-3-one);
(xi) 4-dihydrotestosterone (17b-hydroxy-androstan-3-one);
(xii) drostanolone (17b-hydroxy-2a-methyl-5a-androstan-3-one);
(xiii) ethylestrenol (17a-ethyl-17b-hydroxyestr-4-ene);
(xiv) fluoxymesterone (9-fluoro-17a-methyl-11b,17b-dihydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(xv) formebolone (2-formyl-17a-methyl-11a,17b-dihydroxyandrost-1,4-dien-3-one);
(xvi) furazabol (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyandrostano[2,3-c]-furazan);
(xvii) 13b-ethyl-17b-hydroxygon-4-en-3-one;
(xviii) 4-hydroxytestosterone (4,17b-dihydroxy-androst-4-en-3-one);
(xix) 4-hydroxy-19-nortestosterone (4,17b-dihydroxy-estr-4-en-3-one);
(xx) mestanolone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxy-5a-androstan-3-one);
(xxi) mesterolone (1a-methyl-17b-hydroxy-[5a]-androstan-3-one);
(xxii) methandienone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyandrost-1,4-dien-3-one);
(xxiii) methandriol (17a-methyl-3b,17b-dihydroxyandrost-5-ene);
(xxiv) methenolone (1-methyl-17b-hydroxy-5a-androst-1-en-3-one);
(xxv) 17a-methyl-3b, 17b-dihydroxy-5a-androstane;
(xxvi) 17a-methyl-3a,17b-dihydroxy-5a-androstane;
(xxvii) 17a-methyl-3b,17b-dihydroxyandrost-4-ene.
(xxviii) 17a-methyl-4-hydroxynandrolone (17a-methyl-4-hydroxy-17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xxix) methyldienolone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyestra-4,9(10)-dien-3-one); (xxx) methyltrienolone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyestra-4,9-11-trien-3-one);
(xxxi) methyltestosterone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(xxxii) mibolerone (7a,17a-dimethyl-17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xxxiii) 17a-methyl-*1-dihydrotestosterone (17b-hydroxy-17a-methyl-5a-androst-1-en-3-one) (a.k.a. “17-a-methyl-1-testosterone”);
(xxxiv) nandrolone (17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xxxv) norandrostenediol—

(I) 19-nor-4-androstenediol (3b, 17b-dihydroxyestr-4-ene);
(II) 19-nor-4-androstenediol (3a, 17b-dihydroxyestr-4-ene);
(III) 19-nor-5-androstenediol (3b, 17b-dihydroxyestr-5-ene); and
(IV) 19-nor-5-androstenediol (3a, 17b-dihydroxyestr-5-ene);

(xxxvi) norandrostenedione—

(I) 19-nor-4-androstenedione (estr-4-en-3,17-dione); and
(II) 19-nor-5-androstenedione (estr-5-en-3,17-dione;
(xxxvii) norbolethone (13b,17a-diethyl-17b-hydroxygon-4-en-3-one);

(xxxviii) norclostebol (4-chloro-17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xxxix) norethandrolone (17a-ethyl-17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xl) normethandrolone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxyestr-4-en-3-one);
(xli) oxandrolone (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxy-2-oxa-[5a]-androstan-3-one);
(xlii) oxymesterone (17a-methyl-4,17b-dihydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one);
(xliii) oxymetholone (17a-methyl-2-hydroxymethylene-17b-hydroxy-[5a]-androstan-3-one);
(xliv) stanozolol (17a-methyl-17b-hydroxy-[5a]-androst-2-eno[3,2-c]-pyrazole);
(xlv) stenbolone (17b-hydroxy-2-methyl-[5a]-androst-1-en-3-one);
(xlvi) testolactone (13-hydroxy-3-oxo-13,17-secoandrosta-1,4-dien-17-oic acid lactone);
(xlvii) testosterone (17b-hydroxyandrost-4-en-3-one); (xlviii) tetrahydrogestrinone (13b,17a-diethyl-17b-hydroxygon-4,9,11-trien-3-one);
(xlix) trenbolone (17b-hydroxyestr-4,9,11-trien-3-one); and

(xlx) [1] any salt, ester, or ether of a drug or substance described in this paragraph. The substances excluded under this subparagraph may at any time be scheduled by the Attorney General in accordance with the authority and requirements of subsections (a) through (c) of section 811 of this title.

(B)

(i) Except as provided in clause
(ii), such term does not include an anabolic steroid which is expressly intended for administration through implants to cattle or other nonhuman species and which has been approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for such administration.
(ii) If any person prescribes, dispenses, or distributes such steroid for human use, such person shall be considered to have prescribed, dispensed, or distributed an anabolic steroid within the meaning of subparagraph (A).