Athletes' never-ending quest for a competitive edge, loose regulation of medical clinics and even the lack of a state income tax have combined to make South Florida an alluring destination for professional sports figures in search of banned drugs to boost on-field performance.

Steroids, human growth hormone (HGH) and other performance-enhancing substances are illegal without a prescription, yet relatively easy to obtain in South Florida. Illicit drugs are readily available via supply routes originating in Latin America and at the anti-aging and wellness clinics that have sprouted here in the last decade, anti-doping experts tell the Sun Sentinel.

More baseball players than ever are flocking here during the off-season, people close to the game say, seeking warm weather, tax advantages and the area's many personal trainers and fitness facilities.

That confluence of athletes and access has made South Florida a fertile ground for drug abuse in sports.

Michael Straubel, a sports law professor at Valparaiso (Ind.) University Law School, called it a "perfect storm." Many knowledgeable local sports professionals agree.

"The ease of the drug thing here and the high-profile fitness community down here, that whole culture lends itself [to] athletes to do that type of thing," said former Miami Marlins Get your Marlins Tickets now! head athletic trainer Larry Starr, now a visiting professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. "This is where you want to train. This is where you want to be."

Growing concern among Major League Baseball officials that South Florida doctors, trainers and players had become a major source of performance-enhancing drugs spurred a probe last summer that now involves the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, sources told the Sun Sentinel. The Florida Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution stands "ready to provide support if necessary," spokesman John Lucas said in a statement to the newspaper last week.

Baseball officials have given federal agents information on a number of South Florida trainers and doctors, including Miami physician Dr. Pedro Bosch and his son Anthony Bosch, who owns a now-closed Coral Gables-based anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis, the sources said.

Last week, another local publication, Miami New Times, claimed in a report that the clinic had been supplying performance-enhancing drugs, including testosterone, HGH and a substance known as IGF-1, to a client list that included six professional baseball players, two other pro athletes and an assistant baseball strength coach at the University of Miami.

New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was among the athletes named in the report; he and others have vehemently denied involvement with the clinic or its owner. Through their lawyers, the Bosches also have denied any wrongdoing.

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S. Fla. beckons for athletes seeking banned drugs