I have not seen this talked about much or really at all online. I am about to graduate college and have a job offer with a company that would eventually require a TS/SCI. After I got done playing football, I did a few short cycles of SARMs and then just stopped using them due to lack of interest and I didn’t really see a point. I probably did two full 10-12 week “cycles”. I started a third but stopped taking them after a few weeks. I started running/worrying about health more and haven’t thought twice about them until I read through the SF-86 I will eventually have to submit and this is the only thing that causes concern. It has probably been 3ish years since I used them. I have no other drug involvement whatsoever… not even weed, and have never been in trouble. I think I have one speeding ticket from one of those cameras, but that’s the extent of my criminal history.
SARM’s are kind of a gray area, but I am also not going to hide the usage. I never really wanted to take anything that would hinder my athletic performance or be deemed as cheating which is why I waited until I was done with sports.
The risk here is that if I decide to take this job, it will be the first one I get coming out of college and if I did fail the clearance it would put me in a really tough spot trying to find another “first job”. Does anyone know if this would potentially cause issues assuming I am candid and upfront about it?
Edit: This is for a government contractor job.
After looking up SARM it seems to me that while there are some potential health risks, I don’t think there is anything illegal, and I don’t see where they are a controlled substance. With steroids, there was the issue of using a medication without a prescription, but I don’t see where these are even prescribed.
There are some current background investigators on this site, maybe they have heard of this thing.
Anyway it sounds like a good thing that you stopped using this stuff, regardless of any security clearance issues.
1 Like
I had never heard of SARMS until this post. Quick research reflects that while not intelligent to use, this is not currently reportable. If your family, friends, or fellow players were aware of the use, you might want to discuss the use with your investigator so the investigation won’t mistakenly report your use as illegal drug use.
1 Like
I am a little surprised that SARM’s are not more well known. Not to say that they are “popular”, but they have been around for a while. I think congress moved to have them changed to a controlled substance in 2018, but it ultimately died.
I never really had the desire to take steroids, but had always done the normal thing : Protein, creatine, and preworkout mixes. I come from a family of powerlifters… and I wanted to just see how strong I could get if I just focused on lifting. Steroids scare me due to the long term side effects that I have seen in my uncle… and also, I just don’t like needles. I stumbled across SARM’s, and from my research they were legal and relatively safe to use. Hindsight, I wish wouldn’t have taken them, but I can’t really change it now. I feel much better now that I have focused on running/ health instead of focusing on benching 500 pounds.
Long winded post, but thank you for your insight.
Thank you! I checked though emails last night and my last usage was in October of 2017 so around 3.5 years. I know they aren’t technically illegal, but I did not want it to seem like I am hiding something. I agree… not the most intelligent decision.
I have been in this job or military security for over 40 years. The almost illegal or not yet illegal habits don’t my radar until i see an issue. Just a lot of stuff to keep track of in this profession.
1 Like