When O.J. Didn't Have His Game Face
New York Magazine, July 24, 1995
Did 0. J. Simpson murder Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman as a result of
a chronic steroid addiction? The evidence for this theory - strangely
overlooked by both the prosecution and defense - is compelling. According
to a confidante of A. C. Cowlings, Simpson began abusing anabolic steroids
during his football career and has been taking cortisone for pain ever
since. If Simpson were indeed addicted to these drugs, it would help
explain how a genial and popular man could have violently murdered two
people. According to Harvard Medical School forensic psychiatrist Dr. Harold Bursztajn,
abuse of these drugs is known to cause sudden bouts of violence and amnesia.
Even stopping the medicine abruptly, Bursztajn points out, may result
in "depression, paranoia, and fluctuating psychotic breaks." Though
the LAPD lab tested Simpson's blood for eight substances including cocaine
and heroin, it concedes it never tested for steroids. Says Dr. Bursztajn: "Longtime
steroid use or abuse can't be found unless you test for it specifically." But
evidence of Simpson's possible drug problem shows up in much of the trial
testimony. Limo driver Allan Park testified that Simpson was "hot"
and demanded both air-conditioning and open windows on the way to the
airport the night of the murders even though it was a mild evening. Cortisone
abuse, according to experts, often causes excessive sweating. On the
flight to Chicago, Simpson went to the bathroom every fifteen minutes,
a flight attendant later reported to the police. "Even if he had
stopped using steroids abruptly, he would pee and pee and drink and drink
[water]," says Dr. Bursztajn. And finally, on the evening of the
Bronco "chase,"
defense lawyer Robert Shapiro called in steroid specialist Dr. Robert
Huizenga when Simpson was feared suicidal. Since then, the former L.A.
Raiders team doctor has been Simpson's personal physician.
