For a teen trying to build muscle, it’s
a dangerous short cut – a powerful sport supplement called
pro-steroid.
“Yeah, you can get big, you can get strong real fast,”
says Chris, 21, who has a friend who used to take the drug.
Garrett, 24, also knew two people who took the pro-steroids
in high school.
“My friends were huge, I mean, my brother even said
the guys were just completely ripped, you know, just totally
cut,” he says.
Unlike their cousin, anabolic steroids, pro-steroids are
legal, and may have
the same dangerous effect.
“It’s the chemical that with a few little changes
that your body’s metabolism makes, turns it into the
active form of an anabolic steroid,” says Dr. Sally
Harris, a pediatric and adolescent sports medicine specialist
at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.
And, she says, pro-steroids can have the same potential side
effects as
anabolic steroids: liver damage, heart disease, shrinking
testicles and hair
loss in boys, body hair growth and enlarged clitoris in girls
… and there’s
more.
“They affect virtually every organ in the body, some
of them are temporary effects, some of them are irreversible,”
Dr. Harris explains.
In Congress, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is
considering banning the pro-steroids. But for now, they’re
widely available on the Internet and in many stores.
Geff Malone has used pro-steroids and sells them at his Max
Muscle franchise stores. He opposes the proposed ban, but
he also says he’d never sell the product to kids.
“Basically, it’s for someone that has lower testosterone
levels to begin with, typically the age group you find most
effective is somebody in their 30s, like myself,” Malone
says. “Anybody under 20 should probably stay away from
it – definitely anybody under 18.”
In high school, Garrett talked a lot with his friends on
steroids. They told him about “Roid Rage,” the
violent and angry mood swings caused by the drug.
“It didn’t sound like it was fun, you know, it
sounded like they really paid a high price to look how they
did,” Garrett says.
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“Buff”
is hip in the girls locker room. This trend is driving girls
into the weight room to pump iron and beef up. Some girls
are weighing in on steroids to make the cut. Now subject to
the pressures long felt by boys to bulk-up and bulk-up fast,
the answer for many girls is anabolic steroids, a synthetic
form of the male hormone testosterone.
Patrice Crenshaw, a 16-year-old wrestler, remembers the first
time she was approached with steroids.
“They didn’t tell me any of the negative stuff,
about the facial hair, about the hoarseness in the voice,
about not being able to reproduce,” she says.
Patrice declined the offer, but an estimated 175,000 high
school girls have taken anabolic steroids in their lifetime.
High schoolers make up 75% of all steroid users.
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Girls have more opportunities than ever before
to become involved and compete athletically. From all-girls
soccer leagues to female boxing, the sports arena is wide
open. It is an opportunity girls have desired for years, but
it’s not all fun and games.
The number of girls using steroids has grown by more than
300% since 1991. Goals like college scholarships, Olympic
dreams and professional sports are powerful incentives for
success, but college and professional sports organizations
aren’t playing games when it comes to steroids.
An Olympic athlete who tests positive for anabolic steroids
once is banned from competition for two years and banned for
life if convicted again. Steroids are prohibited in college
and high school sports as well. So while she’s trying
to be the best, if she tests positive for steroids, she and
her biceps will be on the sidelines.
While steroids may make give a teen excess energy at first,
the potential for negative health consequences is overwhelming.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse cites the following side
effects from steroid use:
Short term:
- Facial hair growth
- Deepening of the voice
- Acne
- Menstrual irregularity
- Aggressive behavior
Long term:
- Osteoporosis
- Premature aging
- Diabetes
- Sterility
- Hardening of arteries
Although development of male characteristics is a key sign
of steroid use by females, your teen doesn’t have to
walk in the door with a mustache one day for you to be concerned.
A spontaneous increase in muscle mass is enough reason for
you to look for other warning signs.
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