I am posting a request for participation in a research study that is being conducted in British Columbia (Vancouver Island & Lower Mainland). The study is investigating the effects of hormones on cognition and emotional well-being.
I need male bodybuilders, between ages of 20 and 50, who use anabolic-androgenic steroids. If you were to participate, you will be asked to volunteer a total of approximately 4 to 4 1/2 hours of your time. A package of forms will be mailed to you prior to your session.
The session will be set up at your convenience (either at the University of Victoria, in Duncan, Nanaimo, or Vancouver area), and you will be asked to complete the following: Brief interview, some cognitive tasks, questionnaires regarding your attitudes and behaviours, & blood collection to test hormone levels, such as testosterone and estradiol (at an MDS Metro Lab close to the session).
If you decide to call, YOU MUST NOT IDENTIFY YOURSELF. You must either decide on a false name to use at all times, or simply do not use any name in your discussions with the researcher.
Participants will receive $40 and a t-shirt.
For more information and/or to volunteer for this study, please contact Sandra Mish, M.S., Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, by calling (250) 472-4339 or emailing smish@uvic.ca.
Okay, so let’s play your game. Suppose you do humor your potential guinea pigs with the quasi annonymity of a fake name (Wow, how Secret Agent-ish). Well gee whiz, wouldn’t the blood test pretty much toss that out the window? I don’t know how Canadian laws work, but that’s grounds for a subpoena.
[quote]Contrl wrote:
Okay, so let’s play your game. Suppose you do humor your potential guinea pigs with the quasi annonymity of a fake name (Wow, how Secret Agent-ish). Well gee whiz, wouldn’t the blood test pretty much toss that out the window? I don’t know how Canadian laws work, but that’s grounds for a subpoena.
So what will the t-shirt say? “Gullible?”[/quote]
probably UVIC.
the annonymity is for the researcher’s/science’s sake, not the participants. you don’t know how canadian laws work so don’t make assumptions. i have seen many studies where blood was drawn and handled only by an identifier number. possession of small amounts for personal use is not prosecuted. police and legal system are already full dealing with real criminals.
Obviously you’ve been out of touch with the recent sting operations by international drug enforcements. The recent trend is that, as far as they’re concerned, steroid users are “real criminals.” Those LE stings include Canada as well.
To the best of my knowledge in US laws (and I would assume also in Canadian laws), there is no such thing as a Scientist-Subject Confidentiality clause. I pass judgement to err on the side of safety.
i am very well in touch with what has gone down. you may note i didn’t post anything for about a week when it all happened. the LE stings have targeted people who were involved in blatant online activity for years under the same handle. i am surprised it took so long. i was much less surprised when i started to see who got popped and through where.
it would not take much internet searching to check out the credentials. they belong to a PhD candidate at UVIC. it is a crime to impersonate people (called personation in canada). the police are not allowed to commit crimes to apprehend people (another canadian law - and yes i got the lowdown from an eminent legal professional).
what you have left is the anonymous participation that could perhaps a year or two from now have the law enforcement look into it when the study is published. i seriously doubt it.
the police in british columbia have much more pressing things to do than set up a few bodybuilders for charges that would be thrown out instantly. we have enough crack, smack and crank heads as well as wannabe gangster shootings to keep the police very busy.
while i initially had the same reaction, i declined to post since it looked like the real deal, a grad student looking for participants. further research confirmed that.
as for the war on sauce, it was coming, the community chose to ignore it assuming because they got away with it so easily it would continue in the future. i have seen this business from just about every side in the last 8 years and i have absolutely no sympathy for anyone but a small fraction of cautious end users.
Scientist-Subject Confidentiality is not the point. it is called a blind so when they try to compare dose and blood concentrations to behavior or emotional experience they do not knowingly bias the analysis.
[quote]Contrl wrote:
Obviously you’ve been out of touch with the recent sting operations by international drug enforcements. The recent trend is that, as far as they’re concerned, steroid users are “real criminals.” Those LE stings include Canada as well.
To the best of my knowledge in US laws (and I would assume also in Canadian laws), there is no such thing as a Scientist-Subject Confidentiality clause. I pass judgement to err on the side of safety.[/quote]
I am a Canadian. We do have a Scientist-Subject Confidentiality clause. Similar studies have been done in Canada with Heroine, Pot, LSD, and Ecstasy. You can sub in any of those drugs into this study. The participants were never charged even though they took their drugs in front of the scientists.
In Canada, we have places run by the government for drug addicts to go and take their illegal substances in a clean and safe environment. The get free needles and any other supplies they need. We are more concerned with druggies health then punishing them for an addiction.
[quote]ubl0 wrote:
i am very well in touch with what has gone down. you may note i didn’t post anything for about a week when it all happened. the LE stings have targeted people who were involved in blatant online activity for years under the same handle. i am surprised it took so long. i was much less surprised when i started to see who got popped and through where.
it would not take much internet searching to check out the credentials. they belong to a PhD candidate at UVIC. it is a crime to impersonate people (called personation in canada). the police are not allowed to commit crimes to apprehend people (another canadian law - and yes i got the lowdown from an eminent legal professional).
what you have left is the anonymous participation that could perhaps a year or two from now have the law enforcement look into it when the study is published. i seriously doubt it.
the police in british columbia have much more pressing things to do than set up a few bodybuilders for charges that would be thrown out instantly. we have enough crack, smack and crank heads as well as wannabe gangster shootings to keep the police very busy.
while i initially had the same reaction, i declined to post since it looked like the real deal, a grad student looking for participants. further research confirmed that.
as for the war on sauce, it was coming, the community chose to ignore it assuming because they got away with it so easily it would continue in the future. i have seen this business from just about every side in the last 8 years and i have absolutely no sympathy for anyone but a small fraction of cautious end users.
Scientist-Subject Confidentiality is not the point. it is called a blind so when they try to compare dose and blood concentrations to behavior or emotional experience they do not knowingly bias the analysis.[/quote]
Obviously you are a liar. I have seen the movie canadien bacon 3 times, there is nothing going on in canada except mounties riding arouund on horses preventing litering. John Candy would not steer me wrong, and you sir are no John Candy!
Contrl~
We have similar laws in the US dealing with real studies done by medical universities. I know that myself and other friends while in HS participated in a study dealing with illegal drugs and how they effected our brains. We were paid some small amount as in the above and I do believe it was government sponsored research. Lol we never got a T-shirt�?�not that I would have ever worn it though. Try explaining to your parents when you were 17 a T-Shirt saying, �??I helped Dr.�??s see what drugs do to my brain!�??
Haha needless to say it made me clean up my act for good after reading the research.
Some interesting discussions! I can understand why people who use AAS might be worried about participating in a study (legal concerns). As someone already noted, several researchers investigate sensitive topics that involve ‘illegal’ activities, such as drug use, sex workers, etc…, and thus provide protections for their participants (such as confidentiality, anonymity, etc…). I implement an “ethics first” approach to my research and clinical practice. Confidentiality and protection of privacy is paramount in this study, and I am taking all precautions to protect these rights. Ultimately it is my obligation to protect my research participants at all costs.
To protect anonymity, participants are asked to NEVER provide their real name (fake name is fine), and they are given a code number. In addition, participants do NOT provide any identifiable information for blood testing (e.g., no health card #, no address, altered birthdate aside from month/year which are required for reference range, & your code # is entered as your name). Confidentiality is also important; only my supervisor, research assistant & I have access to the raw data.
Ha ha…the “gullible” t-shirts are not available at this time! T-shirts have been provided by a nutritional supplement company in Canada, therefore they do not say ‘UVic’ or ‘I helped Dr. X’!! lol
For “zenontheterrible”, you can not fake AAS use to participate for money. However, I do have other individuals who are participating in the study that do not take AAS.
[quote]dean12345 wrote:
Obviously you are a liar. I have seen the movie canadien bacon 3 times, there is nothing going on in canada except mounties riding arouund on horses preventing litering. John Candy would not steer me wrong, and you sir are no John Candy!
[/quote]
obviously. was that the french version (-ien,eh? i demand service in english)? these days they ride around and prevent loitering by youth. also, if they see micheal moore filming scenes of industry in hamilton so he can call it niagara falls, new york and mislead the public, they have orders to terminate on sight.
contrl:
the police may set up a fake sting if they wish. they can even make up names of places and people. what they are not allowed to do is use the identities and credentials of a real person and institution.
UVIC and sandra are very real, thus if there is a sting, bye-bye evidence gathered as a result.
as for your contact, all you will hear is stories of busts. that is the way it is at that level, always looking over your shoulder, wondering if in the latest bust your buddies or associates got popped. most of these people sell more than sauce and ancilliaries or are involved with people who do. nature of the business.
that said, anyone considering participating in this or other future offers should play it safe. investigate the person, institution, and laws that may apply.
[quote]TJ Hooker wrote:
Ha ha…the “gullible” t-shirts are not available at this time! T-shirts have been provided by a nutritional supplement company in Canada, therefore they do not say ‘UVic’ or ‘I helped Dr. X’!! lol
[/quote]
if it is a muscle crap shirt, count most people out.
i’m from bc, and i’m pretty sure the police don’t spend anytime busting the gang shootings and crack addicts. oh sure there is tons of that going on, but the cops are too busy handing out speeding tickets, and breaking up underage drinking parties. Last i checked anyways.
tj hooker: don’t worry i was joking about faking AAS, it would cost me more than 40 bucks to take the ferries to uvic and back.