[this is from bits of a zine we’re working on - feedback and additional info very welcome]
before we get into it: two disclaimers and a tl;dr
disclaimer 1 - Trans people have always created our own means of survival both inside and outside of the law. The hope of this zine is to provide you with enough information to make informed decisions for yourself, and to provide you with the confidence and grounding to take whatever steps you need to survive without shame. If you are someone who has a lot of fear around doing things outside of the law, I’d actually encourage you to seek out queer/trans focused prisoner support spaces, and build relationships with currently incarcerated trans people through letter-writing.
disclaimer 2 - In the past there’s not been much of a precedent for prosecution of unprescribed hormone possession. It’s impossible to say with certainty what this will look like in the future - which is why taking extra precaution now is just good practice. As we’re seeing with a few high profile cases of prosecution of abortion-seekers, sometimes people get singled out as faces of a larger cultural panic and honestly that informs how court cases go more than anything else. A goal of ours is to make sure no trans person is left behind or abandoned to the system - that we can support each other regardless of what any law or judge says.
tl;dr: It's complicated. If you're in the U.S. you should assume it's illegal and therefore do as much risk mitigation as you can, that prosecuting small individual use of hormones is probably not a priority, and that trans people have always found extralegal forms of survival and you should not feel any shame about steps you take for your own survival.
Estrogen is broadly considered to be lower-risk as it's not a controlled substance, meaning a substance whose possession and use are regulated by law. It is technically illegal to import without a prescription and posession without a prescription is a gray area, but in general it's not seen as a major legal concern. If anyone is curious, if you were somehow to be caught and prosecuted for possession of estrogen, it would probably fall in the realm of a misdemeanor. Information about how to access DIY estrogen is decently accessible online.
Testosterone is a schedule III controlled substance, so its possession and use are regulated by law, and illegal posession or use could in theory land you a felony. [lots of legal talk incoming] There are federal and state laws relating to controlled substances, and state by state it varies a lot, ranging from misdemeanor to felony. Federally possession is a felony with a charge of ~1 year in prison and a $7,500 fine. The main things the actual charge would depend on would be whether you are caught by local law enforcement or federal law enforcement, the state you’re in, the amount you have (larger amounts sometimes indicate intent to distribute, which can increase the charge), if you have any other illegal/controlled substances that are found, and if you have past drug-related offenses. A package being delivered to your address is not sufficient proof for possession! A single person, buying only enough for themselves, with no proof of intent to distribute, no prior offenses, good operational security, and any level of plausible deniability shouldn’t be putting up legal red flags. Testosterone is also used by cis men without prescription, though, and there's a pretty extensive culture around testosterone use and discussion in weighlifting/gym forums.
Again, the priorities of law enforcement would probably be more oriented towards sellers of the controlled substance, meaning that even if a package of yours was seized, they would probably care less about finding you and more about finding the person who’s selling to you. That being said, because it is a higher risk hormone due to its status as a controlled substance, it is more important to be careful and take better precautions.
General practices of ordering:
-If you're ordering online, try to order domestically rather than internationally as packages are most likely to be seized in customs
-When ordering online, use good operational security! Don't use google to research DIY because your search records on google can be accessed by law enforcement and used in court or easily seen by family/friends. Don't message people about your purchasing of DIY or post on social media or Tumblr or Reddit specifically saying you've ordered it online. Use a VPN (but not any of the VPNs you see advertised on Youtube! I like ProtonVPN and use the free or $5 tier). For browsers, use DuckDuckGo (limits tracking and cares about your privacy) or Tor or Tails (will share more about these in a future post). Consider the levels of privacy you might want (i.e. hiding the websites you’re visiting from your Wifi provider, from someone who might be using your computer, and hiding your personal information from the sites you visit).
-If you’re up for it, try buying Bitcoin, then exchanging it for Monero, which is a more privacy-oriented cryptocurrency that makes it more difficult to connect the person to the currency.
-If you can ship to a P.O. box rather than your own address, that's a good risk mitigation step. Same if you can use a different name, although if it's more suspicious for you to use a different name (i.e. if you live with family members who might throw the package out or open it), keep that in mind.
-If you have a packaged seized, you'll receive a letter from customs letting you know that your package was seized. This is okay, it doesn't mean anyone's coming after you, and it's difficult to actually prove you ordered something even if it was addressed to you (all the more reason to be good about your security when ordering). Consider ordering from a different site, to a different address, and with a different name for the foreseeable future.
General practices of possession:
-Be conscious about where your hormones are. Are they somewhere an unsupportive family member or roommate could find? Are they in a vehicle (police can legally search your vehicle if you're pulled over without any need for probable cause)? Are they on your person in a moment when you might get searched by police? Are you bringing them to the airport, where your bags might be searched by TSA? Best risk mitigation practices would be to not ever have your hormones anywhere they could be found by anyone, and particularly avoiding having in them in a vehicle or while traveling. Sometimes this might mean missing a dose or two, or ordering a new bottle at your destination for a longer-term trip/move.
as always, if you’ve got things to add, or questions for us, please reach out! we have a protonmail ([email protected]) and are on here.
