Steroids In High School Sports

We live in a very competitive world. In the eyes of a high school athlete the most competitive and most meaningful thing in their life is sports. So if you were offered the opportunity to simply take some medicine and become bigger, stronger and faster than your competition would you take it? The use of steroids is growing significantly in society today. Steroids are not only used for athletics anymore, it also used for cosmetic effects. The common drugs in high school are tobacco and marijuana, steroids are often overlooked. With the rate of popularity of steroids growing it is necessary to inform people of the unseen dangers. Steroids are more dangerous than one may think, they cause side effects that affect mental, physical, and emotional

The drug mimics the effects of testosterone in the body, causing muscle cells to produce protein at a faster rate, which leads to bigger muscles (Larsen 1). Athletes use the drug as a quick, easy way to become stronger and faster than the competition. It isn’t difficult to understand why teens are exposing themselves to this drug. Steroids were never mentioned in the D.A.R.E. program and most were never taught the effects of these drugs. I think this a mistake for the drug programs to ignore steroids because of how tempting they are. If you were offered a pill to easily be better than all your competition would you take it? If you knew no consequences the answer would almost always be yes. If educated, your answer may be different. Taylor Hooton, a 17 year old high school pitcher, suffered from the consequences of steroid use. He saw other players on his team becoming bigger and better and he quickly realized why. Taylor had dreamed of going pro so he saw steroids as a way to get himself there. He began to use steroids and had noticeably bulked up. The summer before his senior year, Taylor went to his bedroom and hanged himself. Taylor’s parents were shocked until they found a stash of anabolic steroids (Larsen

Stunted growth at the age of 17 leaves you about 4-5 years without extra growth. Perhaps the most popular effect is known as “roid rage.” Roid rage is uncontrolled fits of rage and irrational thinking (Larsen 2). Even with all these consequences of the drug they are still extremely popular with athletes. According to a study in 2012 one in twenty teenagers have used steroids (Larsen 3). A similar study was performed in 2013 and resulted in a five percent increase in teens using steroids (Groves 1). A five percent increase in only one years time should be very alarming. These statistics should not be ignored and we should have our drug and alcohol awareness programs warn kids the dangers of steroids, especially at a young age. An education on the dangers of this drug could reduce the amount of users, therefore reducing the amount of related