Testosterone Propionate was the first anabolic steroid in the history about steroids in the United States. The anabolic steroid was mentioned in a U.S. weightlifting/bodybuilding magazine, in a letter to the editor of Strength and Health magazine in 1938. Dianabol (Methandrostenolone) was developed by Dr. John Ziegler with the help of Ciba pharmaceutical company, and was first marketed in the United States in 1956. Dianabol was approved for use in the United States by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 1958.
According to the later 20th Century history about steroids, the US Congress began considering placing anabolic steroids under the Controlled Substances Act after Ben Johnson controversy at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. However, during deliberations the AMA (American Medical Association), DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), and NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) all opposed listing anabolic steroids as controlled substances citing the fact that use of these hormones simply doesn’t lead to the physical or psychological dependence required for scheduling under the controlled substance act.
The history about steroids further articulates that anabolic steroids were put under the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990 placed anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act, and Congress enacted a rigorous legislation that had higher criminal penalties for the illegal distributors of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. According to the Controlled Substances Act, anabolic steroids are the drugs or hormonal substances that are chemically and pharmacologically related to testosterone (other than estrogens, progestins, and corticosteroids) that promote muscle growth. Several US pharmaceutical companies, such as Ciba, Searle, Syntex and others, stopped manufacturing or marketing anabolic steroids by the early 1990s.
According to the recent history about steroids, the 1990s was the time when the market of counterfeit anabolic steroids emerged, and the drug markets were flooded with fake anabolic steroids. This resulted in the amendment of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. Taking effect on Jan 20, 2005, the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 placed both anabolic steroids and prohormones on a list of controlled substances, making possession of the banned substances without a prescription a federal crime.