Some interesting info about how different things were back in the 1980's, and Ciba's Dianabol being removed from the US market in 1983, and the black market that created for steroid dealers.
"After the Kefauver Harris Amendment passed in 1962, the U.S. FDA began the DESI review process to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs approved under the more lenient pre-1962 standards, including
Dianabol. In 1965, the FDA pressured CIBA to further document methandrostenolone’s legitimate medical uses, and re-approved the drug for treating post-menopausal osteoporosis and pituitary-deficient dwarfism. After CIBA’s patent exclusivity period lapsed, other manufacturers began to market generic “Dianabol” in the U.S."
Following further FDA pressure, CIBA withdrew the methndrostenolone Dianabol from the U.S. market in 1983. Generic production shut down two years later, when the FDA revoked Dianabol e.g, D-BOL’s approval entirely in 1985. Non-medical use of methandrostenolone outlawed in the U.S. under the Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990."
Dianabol - Dbol | Muscle Labs USA (dianabol-dbol.com)
"Fitton found a pharmacy in Opelika, Ala., that stored the drugs. The supply channel was blessedly straightforward. Fitton would make occasional trips to Spain and Italy, where steroids were legal -- "I'd clean out the pharmacies in Milan," he says -- and fill up his luggage. He would also make periodic jaunts from San Diego to Mexico in a cheap rental car. "The old cars were better, because you could pull door panels off and load s--- in places," he says. "That's what we used to do."
Even as Fitton was purchasing huge quantities of steroids, his enterprise was unnoticed by law enforcement. A rumor surfaced in 1983 -- bogus, it turned out -- that Dianabol was going off the market. Fitton rushed to his Alabama pharmacist and ordered as much as he could get: 10,000 bottles. "The pharmacist, the distributor and the companies didn't bat an eye," says Fitton. "They knew damn well the pharmacy didn't need 10,000 bottles for legitimate reasons.""
Steroids In America: The Godfather - Sports Illustrated
"As a result, the FDA required a number of companies to withdraw steroids with no medical application from the market. In December, 1985--just months after, Dillon says, he hooked up with Duchaine--the agency withdrew the most popular steroid among body-builders, known as Dianabol, from its list of authorized drugs (although its legal manufacture had ceased in 1982). After that, methandrostenolone--the generic name for Dianabol--was available only through counterfeit sources.
The FDA’s supply-side approach caused the steroid black market to boom. In fact, it had the ironic consequence of transforming Dillon from an average distributor to one who, he says, “could walk into any gym in the country and sign up every steroid user in the place.” Through Duchaine, Dillon says, he met David Jenkins, a member of Britain’s silver-medal-winning 1,600-meter relay team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The government says Duchaine had met Jenkins after the Olympian had moved to San Diego and gone into business selling nutritional supplements. According to both Dillon and Jenkins, the three men discussed joining forces in the nutrition business over dinner in January, 1986. Out of the blue, Jenkins mentioned wistfully that anyone able to supply Dianabol could turn a dramatic profit. “A couple of weeks later,” Dillon recalls, “we met again, and Jenkins looked us both in the eyes and said: ‘I can supply the Dianabol. Can you distribute?’ We looked at each other and told him yes.”"
Confessions of a Steroid Smuggler : When the Quest for Big Muscles Turns Into a Passion for Big Money - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
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