Steroids
What Are Anabolic Steroids?
Ever wondered how those bulky weight
lifters got so big? While some may have gotten their muscles through a strict regimen of
weightlifting and diet, others may have gotten that way through the illegal use of
anabolic-androgenic steroids. "Anabolic" refers to a steroid's ability to help build muscle,
and "androgenic" refers to their role in promoting the development of male sexual
characteristics. Other types of steroids, like cortisol, estrogen, and progesterone, do not
build muscle, are not anabolic, and therefore do not have the same harmful effects.
Anabolic-androgenic steroids are usually synthetic substances similar to the male sex
hormone testosterone. They do have legitimate medical uses. Sometimes doctors
prescribe them to help people with certain kinds of anemia and men who don't produce
enough testosterone on their own. But doctors never prescribe anabolic steroids to young,
healthy people to help them build muscles. Without a prescription from a doctor, anabolic
steroids are illegal.
There are many different anabolic-androgenic steroids. Here's a list of some of the most
common ones taken today: Andro, oxandrin, dianabol, winstrol, deca-durabolin, and
equipoise.
Source: http://teens.drugabuse.gov/drug-facts/anabolic-steroids
Dominic has baseball on the brain. Just being good isn't enough — he wants to be the best. He dreams
of playing in the majors someday, but worries about the intense competition for a position on a major
league team. His girlfriend, Deborah, is also a highly competitive athlete whose appearance and
performance are very important to her. She wants to stand out — both physically and athletically.
Because of the pressure they each feel to excel, Dominic and Deborah wonder whether steroids would
help them. They've heard rumors about the bad side effects of steroids, but they don't have many
facts. Here's the scoop on steroids.
What Are Steroids?
Steroids, sometimes referred to as "roids" or "juice" are the same as, or similar to, certain hormones
in the body. The body produces steroids naturally to support such functions as fighting stress and
promoting growth and development. But some people use steroid pills, gels, creams, or injections
because they think steroids can improve their sports performance or the way they look.
Anabolic steroids are artificially produced hormones that are the same as, or similar to, androgens,
the male-type sex hormones in the body. There are more than 100 variations of anabolic steroids. The
most powerful androgen is testosterone(pronounced: tess-TOSS-tuh-rone). Although testosterone is
mainly a mature male hormone, girls' bodies produce smaller amounts. Testosterone helps build
muscle and promotes the masculine traits that guys develop during puberty, such as deepening of the
voice and growth of body hair. Testosterone levels can also affect how aggressive a person is.
Athletes sometimes take anabolic steroids because of their testosterone-like effects.
Another group of steroids, sometimes called steroidal supplements, contains
dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and/or androstenedione (also known as andro). For the most part,
steroidal supplements, which used to be found at health food stores or gyms, are now illegal and
require a prescription. DHEA is one of the few exceptions and can still be bought over the counter.
Steroid supplements are weaker forms of androgen. Their effects aren't well known, but it's thought
that, when taken in large doses, they cause effects similar to other androgens like testosterone. Here's
what is known about steroidal supplements: Companies that manufacture them often use false claims
and very little is known about the long-term effects some of these substances have on the body. That’s
one reason why the government took action to protect citizens by passing laws controlling steroid
distribution.
Source: http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/sports/steroids.html
Source: http://globalsportsdevelopment.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Youth-and-Steroids-Copy.png
Source: http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/physical-signs-of-steroid-abuse_51ff6dd2984e6_w1500.jpg
Click this link to see a short video about purchasing steroids online:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Buy-Steroids-Online-I-Team-247283631.html (then read the article)
Growing Up In The Steroid Era: Testimonies From Youth
Athletes On PEDs


by Gregory John "G.J." Vitale
| * Some previous users and witnesses of steroid use were sourced only with first names because they are
either still active or pursuing careers in athletics and their association with this article could implicate them
moving forward.
Eight years ago at my high school, I saw performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) for the first time. I saw the vial fall to
the locker room floor before baseball practice one day. It landed on its owner’s backpack which sat at his feet. I
didn’t see the name of the substance and I will not reveal the owner’s name, but if you told me that I was the only
one to see it, I wouldn’t be surprised. However, there is no way I was the only one who knew he was a user.
Some Orioles fans show what they think about A-Rod and his steroid use at a game against the Yankees (image
courtesy of Flickr)
He picked up the vial and nonchalantly placed it back in his locker and that was that. As far as I know, he was
never approached about his sudden improvement on the field or his physical transformation from a chubby
freshman to a gargantuan senior.
Today, the picture of what it was to grow up as an athlete in the steroid era is becoming clear. The “steroid era”
is the name given to the period from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s when steroids and other PEDs were
widely used in Major League Baseball (MLB).PEDs include steroids as well as any other substance that
increases performance, including but not limited to human-growth hormone (HGH) and creatine.
Although baseball led the way in usage, other sports were far from innocent bystanders. Younger and younger
athletes began taking these substances to gain an advantage on the field and to keep up with others that were
doing the same.
“PEDs have been popping up in almost every sport, even ones you wouldn’t expect: golf, tennis, you name it,”
said Tufts University Director of Sports Medicine Nick Mitropolous.
Although Mitropolous recalled that Tufts hasn’t had an illegal substance case in quite a while, he insists it’s
because users are getting smarter about which, when, and how much they use, not because they have stopped.
Even though college and high school athletes are not currently making “a lot of money,” taking illegal
substances is “a risk they’re willing to take” because it gives them an edge over their competitors, makes them
better players, and gains the attention of scouts at the next level. This “risk,” however, may not be all that risky.
According to many prior and current sports administration personnel (including Mitropolous himself), testing
for illegal substances is not a serious threat to users.
“Have you ever heard of someone getting caught using steroids in high school sports?” said Kevin*, a 25-yearold former high school and college baseball pitcher who used PEDs in college.
“College sports even? Neither had I. It's an easy and naive rationalization but apparently a good enough one for
some kids.”
Most colleges are required to test their players only if they qualify for NCAA tournaments and when collegiate
athletes are tested, they are often told well in advance the date it will happen. This gives them ample time to
“flush” their body by drinking large amounts of water or by using other methods of cleansing.
“As soon as I started practices and workouts [at college] the older guys on the team were asking us new guys if
they needed steroids,” recalled Chris*, a 22-year-old former college infielder.
“I was pretty shocked at how easily they could be acquired. I knew seven guys on my team who used for sure,
but being an NAIA [National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics] school, the drug testing consisted of two
not-so-random drugs tests per year. The date of the test was always announced and not once was a known user
tested.”
At his college, 21-year-old offensive lineman Patrick* learned that budget cuts would prevent his school from
running any more drug tests for that semester, so he said “Why not?”
Various steroids (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
Patrick is no longer a user, however.
“I stopped during the summer between my sophomore and junior year because I started to feel intense pain in
my abdomen and it was obviously from the stuff I was taking,” Patrick said. “If it weren’t for the pain, I would
probably still be doing them.”
At Tufts, Mitropolous made it clear that tests are only run if there is ample suspicion of use. Unless there is a
telling injury or a witness comes forward, testing on the athletes is not done regularly.
It seems, then, that the only real deterrent is the negative side-effects on health and the unfair advantage over
non-users. And let’s face it: if you are considering PEDs, the latter is not going to stop you. As a matter of fact,
that is the main reason to do them in the first place. But for a young athlete, the former should give pause.
Shouldn’t it?
“Perhaps the only area where there is no doubt or controversy is when it comes to young people: these drugs,
especially anabolic steroids, are unanimously considered harmful to the young,” wrote Caroline K. Hatton,
Ph. D, the former Associate Director of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory, in her 2008 book Night
Team.
Sadly, statements such as Dr. Hatton’s fall on the deaf ears of thousands of young athletes who have seen their
heroes ascend to legends with PEDs as their catalyst.
2012 MLB All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Melky Cabrera was suspended for the remainder of the San
Francisco Giants’ World Series-winning year when he tested positive halfway through the season. Cyclist
Lance Armstrong was implicated in leading a PED ring and was consequently stripped of his seven Tour de
France wins. And it was no surprise to haters and fans alike when New York Yankees’ third baseman Alex
Rodriguez’s name came up on a known supplier’s clientele list. There is no hiding that stardom has a profound
effect on the decisions of young people, especially when those decisions have to be made in the environment of
anticipated success.
“I was considering PEDs because I could've easily gotten away with it,” Kevin said. “It would've helped my
lifelong dream of playing professionally.”
For all of us growing up in the height of the “steroid era,” it was a decision we had to make: to dabble or not to
dabble. The choice was always within arm’s reach, but the hand it was reaching for comes in many shapes and
sizes. While Kevin approached one of his high school coaches during his senior year of high school about
PEDs, Rogers was being approached by upperclassmen at his college. Patrick, however, told me he got all the
information he needed to start, as well as the drugs themselves, online.
“I literally just went on the internet and Googled ‘legal steroids’ and sure enough there was a website called
legalsteroids.com run by a company out of Lake Worth, Florida called SDI-Labs,” Patrick said. “They had
discrete shipping so I just told my mom I was ordering some protein powder. They’re not hard to come by.”
The PED phenomenon is not new by any means, but the movement toward synthetic performance-enhancers is
a generational concern. Because there is such immense pressure on these young athletes and the substances are
easily attainable, their widespread use should not come as a surprise.
Creatine supplement (image courtesy of Flickr)
Just a couple years ago, a Wisconsin high school reported that ten players on its football team had ingested a
banned substance and were subsequently suspended for the first three games of the 2012 season. The substance,
called Synephrine, was contained in an over-the-counter Creatine Nitrate product called C4 Extreme. The
athletes claimed ignorance, but Eric Holden, a contributor for Yahoo! Sports, hit the nail on the head:
“Any athlete who grew up in the 1990s and early-2000s knows the word "creatine" is synonymous with former
St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGuire, who used a combo of creatine and andro to bulk up into a home run
slugger. That may be the first tip-off that C4 Extreme was a performance-enhancer.”
Granted, a certain amount of hard work still has to go into day-to-day activities and getting big in the weight
room does not guarantee success on the playing field, but as Patrick pointed out, “If nothing else, I
certainly felt like I had an advantage over the other guys out there.”
The problem of PEDs is a many-faceted issue. Some talk of legalizing PEDs in sports and such a proposal
raises many controversial questions about competition, health, and even morals. Such a world leaves the door
open to change sport from a competitive event between athletes into a pharmaceutical rat race. Who can
produce the cheapest drug with the most potent effect? The health consequences alone would shorten the lives
of any athlete who submerged themselves wholeheartedly. It would spell the end of sport as we know it.
If the “steroid era” has taught us anything, it is that penalties must be enforced and potential consumers need as
much incentive as possible not to partake in the craze. I call it a craze because we live in a world obsessed with
immediate gratification and excess. If there is a quicker way to elevate your performance, you'll take that
opportunity head on.
“If you take anyone who has a talent and you tell them you can enhance that talent to make a lot of money,
more often than not, that’s a risk they’re willing to take," Mitropolous said. “It’s never going away."
This is not to say every athlete, and especially those who are successful, have taken PEDs. There are a number
of players from the "steroid era" who managed to stay clean and perform well. There is even more hope in our
youth than statistics or writers like myself may have you believe.
I never took steroids. That's not to say I was never around it ... as early as that moment my freshman year in the
locker room and as late as when I conducted interviews for this piece.
Patrick gave me the rest of his pills after we talked.
The two bottles (D-bol and Winni-V) were still about half-full when he handed them to me. According to their
website, the 60-capsule bottle of D-bol is the “most powerful mass building oral on the market!” and the
Winni-V pills will “add quality muscle mass and increase stamina!” Together they will set you back $159.90
plus shipping.
I wasn't expecting to ever hold steroids. Yes, they are perfectly legal for the common man, but for those of us
who saw nothing but their tainted image on SportsCenter and the sports pages of newspapers, they might as
well have been heroin capsules.
Roger Clemens pitching for the Houston Astros in 2005 (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
I took them home and curiously opened the bottle. I made a joke to my dad that we should take them, and,
within the same breath, threw them in the garbage can.
My generation was on the cusp, just when the shit was hitting the fan in Major League Baseball. We saw
McGuire and Sammy Sosa go at it, Roger Clemens pitch into his 40s and acts of sheer strength. We also
witnessed the downfall of these moments: when it came out that our favorite players, those we looked up to,
were cheaters.
Our sources have shown that it was common for PEDs to be introduced at the high school level, but our sources
are now graduating college. There is a new wave of youth athletes who are faced with this question.
This generation plays in the wake of it all.
My cousin Anthony is part of this generation. He is in high school. He tells me there are really no talks circling
around his baseball team's locker room regarding steroids. Maybe we are seeing a change in the winds. After all,
at this point we are beyond the period where athletes can take them innocently. They know the history and
know they cannot live outside of it. I feel confident the youth of today understand not only the moral
implications of using, but also the very real health concerns at stake.
Where we have taken sports is not a good direction. The pressure is unrelenting on the youth athletes. The
multimillion dollar salaries we throw at players only furthers to keep this problem alive. Steroids were a
shortcut for players to improve faster and perform better, but it was also a way to ensure they were not kicked
to the curb. It's the fear of failure. This is why Mitropolous believes they will never go away. Because we have
seen they are so easy to get, it is truly up to the individual which road to take ...
Source: http://tufts.uloop.com/news/view.php/115032/growing-up-in-the-steroid-era-testimonies-from-youth-athletes-on-peds
Source: http://www.uni.illinois.edu//og/media/photos/d/28695-1/Steroid%20main.jpg
Teens and Steroids: A Dangerous Combo
Ali Mohamadi, M.D., a medical officer at FDA, wants teens to know how dangerous it is
to use steroids in hopes of being better athletes or more attractive.
The abuse of anabolic steroids can cause both temporary and permanent injury to
anyone using them. Teenagers, whose bodies are still developing, are at heightened risk.
An alarming number of them are trying steroids in hopes of improving their athletic
prowess or their appearance. Ali Mohamadi, M.D., a medical officer in the Food and
Drug Administration’s Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products, warns teens
and parents about the dangers of steroid use.
Q: What are anabolic steroids and how many teens use them?
A: They are drugs that mimic the actions of the male sex hormone testosterone. This
includes promoting the growth of cells, especially in muscle, and maintaining or
increasing male physical characteristics. Various studies have been conducted and
generally reflect the findings of a Youth Risk and Behavior Surveillance System study,
which estimated that among U.S. high school students, 4.9% of males and 2.4% of
females have used anabolic steroids at least once in their lives. That’s 375,000 young
men and 175,000 young women.
Q. What are the side effects of taking anabolic steroids?
A: They are known to have a range of serious adverse effects on many organ systems,
and in many cases the damage is not reversible. They include fertility problems,
impotence, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and heart and liver abnormalities. Boys
may experience shrinkage of the testes or the development of breast tissue; girls may
experience menstrual irregularities and development of masculine qualities such as
facial and body hair. Both may experience acne. Both boys and girls may also
experience mood swings and aggressive behavior, which can impact the lives not only
of those taking steroids, but of everyone around them.
Q: Are prescriptions needed to get steroids?
A: Yes, in fact anabolic steroids are classified as Schedule III Controlled Substances by
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration with strict regulations, meaning that not only
is a prescription required, but there are extra controls. For example, it is illegal to
possess them without a prescription in the United States, and in most circumstances the
prescription must be in written form and cannot be called in to a pharmacist. Labels on
some steroids recommend testing of hormone levels during use.
The number of FDA-approved uses is limited. Most are prescribed as a replacement for
sub-normal levels of steroids. They are also prescribed for conditions such as muscle
wasting, poor wound healing, and very specific pulmonary or bone marrow disorders.
A health care professional can prescribe steroids off-label, meaning for conditions other
than those that are FDA-approved. But children, particularly teens, are getting access to
steroids and taking them for reasons far outside of their intended use.
Q: So how are teens getting access?
A: Some get prescriptions from a licensed practitioner for such purposes as introducing
puberty to boys who are “late bloomers” or to stimulate growth among teens who are
failing to grow. Some may be dealing with unscrupulous clinics or street dealers on the
black market. Unfortunately, a number of vendors sell anabolic steroids online without a
prescription. Individuals should also be aware that some dietary supplements advertised
for body building may unlawfully include steroids or steroid-like substances, and the
ingredient statement on the label may not include that information.
Q: What is the FDA doing to prevent those illegal sales?
A: FDA is taking a number of steps to discourage these practices. Action has been
taken against illegal online distributors who sell steroids without valid prescriptions, but
an ongoing problem is that you can take one site down and another pops up.
The challenge is intensified by the fact that many online providers don’t accurately
advertise the contents of the products they sell, they may be operating outside the U.S.,
and the drugs aren’t prescribed by a licensed practitioner who can help individuals weigh
the risks and benefits. In such cases, individuals may have no idea what they are taking,
what the appropriate dose should be, or what levels of control and safety went into the
manufacturing process. These facts make the risks of taking anabolic steroids bought
without a prescription even greater than they otherwise would be.
Q: What would you say to a teen you knew was tempted by steroids?
A: I would emphasize both the short and long-term potential for serious harm to their
health. Rather than making you look or perform better, steroids will more likely cause
unfavorable results that could affect you for life. I would also remind them that there are
a number of ways to increase muscle mass and athletic performance, including a
sensible regimen of exercise and diet, without resorting to extreme and dangerous
therapies.
Q: What would you like to say to parents?
A: Parents tend not to believe their teens would consider taking anabolic steroids, but
the truth is that the frequency of steroid use in this age group is far greater than many
would guess.
During this time of year, when children are in school and getting back into their athletic
routines, parents should watch for potential signs of abuse. Mood swings are among the
first side effects to show up, and steroid use may lead to mania or depression. Acne is
also an early side effect and can be followed by breast development in boys or
increased body hair in girls. A surprising gain of muscle mass should also raise
questions. It’s a problem that is as real as it is surprising.
This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page, which features the latest on all
FDA-regulated products.
Nov. 4, 2013
Source: http://www.fda.gov/forconsumers/consumerupdates/ucm373014.htm
Click this link to see a short video about steroids in high school
athletics and read the article: http://www.wptv.com/news/region-cpalm-beach-county/west-palm-beach/doctor-says-steroids-awidespread-problem-in-hs-sports