Yesterday IFBB Pro Toney Freeman made an appearance in Sundsvall, Sweden that he won't soon forget. The X-Man flew in, freshened up at his hotel, then arrived at the appearance he was scheduled to make. Less than 30 minutes later, uniformed police entered the premises and took Toney into custody. [ed note. Freeman was never, at any time, placed under arrest] I spoke to Toney earlier and he said, "I thought I was being punked... it had to be some sort of practical joke." As Toney soon found out, it wasn't a joke.
In Sweden, the police are allowed and, actually, encouraged to take anyone who LOOKS like they're using anabolic steroids into custody. This story is not new to the bodybuilding world as Swedish IFBB Pro Martin Kjellstrom has been repeatedly arrested and harassed by the Swedish government over the last year and a half, all because of his enormous size.
The Swedish police are actively pursuing steroid users by "muscle profiling". If someone looks overly muscular, they'll take them into custody and perform a urineanalysis to determine if the individual is indeed on anabolic steroids. In Toney's case, they had been alerted to his presence in Sweden by local advertisements promoting his celebrity appearance.
When Freeman was brought back to the station, he admitted, "take testosterone and GH! I'm a 44 year old man and I have prescriptions for both!" A Swedish website (http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article8249668.ab) reported that a "quick drug screen" showed both anabolic steroids and marijuana were present. Toney had just been in Amsterdam, and admitted that he "took a few puffs and ate a pot brownie! I wasn't going to lie and then have the results says otherwise!" [ed note: marijuana is legal in Amsterdam]
When I asked him what the end result of all of all this drama was, Freeman replied, "They let me leave and I went back and finished my appearance." The X-Man was very happy to find that all of the fans stayed and waited in hopes that he would, indeed, be back.
Local news reports say that Freeman is no longer welcome in Sweden, but no one is forcing him to leave. Regardless, Freeman has decided to leave on his on accord.
"I won't be going back to Sweden", he says. In fact, at this very moment, Toney is on a plane back to the states.
Toney's final words to me were, "I don't need this crap. I'm leaving on my own. I advise Jay and DJ to stay out of Sweden too!"
Both Jay and DJ are both in the midst of a European tour... and Jay is scheduled to be in Sweden this coming week! If I were Jay, Dennis, or any other bodybuilder, I'd take the X-Man's advice and AVOID SWEDEN!