An Ottawa father says he was shocked to discover that his teenage son had ordered banned pharmaceuticals from the internet, and is warning others about websites that he says are putting kids at risk.
The man said he immediately became suspicious when the package arrived by mail in early January.
“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 man said.
CBC is not naming the father because he fears the impact of this story on his son, who is in high school and has been struggling with body image issues. The father says his son has been working out regularly at the gym and seemed to be looking for a way to gain faster results.
“Social media is raising the expectations of our children around what they should look like, how big they should be, how strong they should be, how fast they can get to results,” he said.
The package that arrived at the family’s Ottawa home contained an enclomiphene citrate solution, a drug sometimes used as a testosterone booster but never approved for sale in Canada.
His son had it delivered to his parents’ door after ordering it online, paying with a parent’s credit card.
The man said he’s proud of his son’s commitment to physical fitness.
“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.”
The drugs were labelled “research material: not for human consumption,” raising more questions.
“I was really upset, really disgusted,” the man said. “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 mother destroyed the drugs, the man told CBC.
Health Canada’s website warns that most online pharmacies are fraudulent, and buying drugs from these sites could pose significant health risks.
In a statement, the Canada Border Services Agency told CBC it works with Health Canada to stop the illegal shipments. Both departments refused interviews for this story.
CBC reached out to the company that sent the drugs, but is not naming the website to prevent other young people from accessing it. The company did not respond to CBC’s requests for an interview.
The boy’s father said when he reached out to the company, it offered to refund his son’s money and barred him from accessing the site in the future.
In its response, the company said its website clearly states that its products “are strictly intended for laboratory research purposes and not for human consumption.” It also notes that at checkout, customers must declare they’re 18 years old and understand the terms and conditions of sale.
“The details under the account have been blacklisted so no further purchases would be possible from the account,” the company wrote.
The child’s father wants other parents to be aware of the danger.
“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 [there].”
