Drug Free Olympics


Kids on steroids willing to risk it all for success



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Kids on steroids willing to risk it all for success

By Jacqueline Stenson

MSNBC contributor


 updated 3/3/2008 10:31:21 AM ET

 

In a nation where the Super Bowl is the



most-watched night on television and

professional athletes in a range of sports rake

in millions of dollars in salaries and

endorsements, it's not hard to see why many

kids grow up idolizing athletes. Some sports

stars may deny they are role models for a

younger generation, but a new study suggests

quite the contrary.


Among students in grades 8 through 12 who

admitted to using anabolic steroids in a

confidential survey, 57 percent said

professional athletes influenced their decision

to use the drugs and 63 percent said pro

athletes influenced their friends' decision to

use them. Eighty percent of users — and 35

percent of non-users — said they believed

steroids could help them achieve their athletic

dreams.
What's more, the steroid users said they were

willing to take extreme risks to reach sports

stardom or other athletic goals. The survey

found that 65 percent of steroid users versus

6 percent of non-users said they would be

willing to use a pill or powder, including

 

dietary supplements, if it guaranteed they



would reach their athletic goals even if it may

harm their health, and 57 percent of users

versus 4 percent of non-users said they

would take a pill or powder even if it may

shorten their life.
"It's scary," says study author Jay Hoffman,

chair of health and exercise science at the

College of New Jersey in Ewing. "This study

shows that adolescents are willing to take

those risks."
The survey, conducted from 2005 to 2006,

involved more than 3,200 students in 12

states, most of them from New Jersey,

Pennsylvania and New Mexico. Other states

included Iowa, Wisconsin, Connecticut,

Missouri, Ohio, Colorado, New York,

Minnesota and California.
Overall, 1.6 percent of students (2.4 percent of

boys and .8 percent of girls) — about 50

students in total — reported using anabolic

steroids, according to results published in the

January issue of the journal Medicine &

Science in Sports & Exercise. That's lower than

more nationally representative research, such

as the government's National Youth Risk

Behavior Survey, which found in 2005 that 4

percent of kids in grades 9 through 12

reported steroid use.
In the new survey, steroid use increased with

age, especially in boys, with almost 6 percent

of 12th grade males reporting steroid use.

Users say they'd take drugs to excel even if it shortened their lives


 

Some students reported using other dietary

supplements to boost their game or physical

appearance. Of all students surveyed, 17

percent said they had used supplements such

as protein powders, creatine and amino acids

to gain body mass. And 35 percent said they

had used supplements such as fat burners,

high-energy drinks, ephedra and caffeine pills

in an attempt to lose weight. The more

supplements kids took, the more likely they

were to also use steroids.


The sports world has been rocked by steroid

scandals in recent months. In December, for

instance, the Mitchell Report implicated more

than 80 professional baseball players in the

use of steroids. And last fall, sprinter Marion

Jones admitted to lying about steroid use and

returned her five Olympic medals.
Not all kids see anything wrong with steroids

in sports though. In the new survey, 57

percent of steroid users and 12 percent of

non-users said they believe pro athletes have

the right to use steroids. And 60 percent of

users and 29 percent of non-users actually

thought using anabolic steroids for athletic

purposes is legal.


Role model?

Hoffman blames lack of education about the

dangers of these drugs as well as the influence

of elite athletes who use steroids.


"I believe there is an inherent responsibility of

being a role model," Hoffman says. "Whether

they want it or not, it comes with the territory."
Dr. Linn Goldberg, who's involved with

national programs to counter steroids in

youth sports, says the new study confirms

 

what he has seen anecdotally.


"Sports role models are very powerful in a

young kid's life," says Goldberg, who is head

of the division of health promotion and sports

medicine at the Oregon Health and Science

University in Portland. "The mindset is that if [a

pro athlete] had to use that, then maybe I

should use that."
Through his program called Athletes Training

and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS), he is

trying to educate kids that there are

alternatives to steroids, such as sports-

specific training regimens and diets that help

athletes gain muscle naturally.


Red flags

Don Hooton wishes he had known about the

warning signs of steroid abuse. His son,

Taylor, 17, killed himself in 2003, six weeks

after discontinuing steroid use.
"All the signs were there that Taylor was using

steroids," says Hooton, who lives in Plano,

Texas. Taylor, a high school baseball player,

worked out three times a day, gained 30

pounds of muscle in 90 days, developed acne

on his back and started having 'roid rages. "He

would just fly off the handle for seemingly no

reason," says Hooton.


The Hootons knew something was wrong, but

they didn't know what. And they actually

praised him for his muscle development

because they thought it was the pure result of

all his hard work at the gym. They didn't

realize it's impossible to naturally gain so

much muscle so quickly.
Now through the Taylor Hooton Foundation,

the family is working to raise awareness of the

dangers of steroids in youth. Because teens

are still developing and already have raging  

hormones, experts worry that steroids —

which, among other possible effects, may

shrink testicles, raise cholesterol, promote

liver tumors, spur breast growth in males, and

shrink breasts and deepen voice in females —

may be particularly dangerous for them.


The foundation also is pushing for more drug

testing for steroids in schools. New Jersey and

Florida are already doing testing, and Texas

and Illinois are making plans to test. "We need

a random testing program not to put a kid in

jail but to give them a chance to get caught,"

says Hooton. If kids face the threat of getting

caught and being kicked off a team or losing a

scholarship, they might think twice before

using steroids or other performance-

enhancers, he says.
Such testing isn't perfect though. It can't

reliably detect human growth hormone, for

instance, which is believed to be catching on

with youth athletes as it seems to be with

adults.
That's why Hooton and others hope the sports

world cracks down harder on doping. "It's not

just about [pro athletes]," Hooton says. "It's

about our kids. It's about Taylor and



hundreds of thousands of kids."
 

© 2011 msnbc.com
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“Steroid inquiry widens to teen athletes”


by: DAVID SCHULTE World Staff Writer

Thursday, April 24, 2008



Tulsa and state undercover officers are investigating whether suspected steroid dealers are selling performance enhancement drugs to high school students.
Mark Woodward, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Nar cotics and Dangerous Drugs Control's office in Oklahoma City, said agents have received a significant number of calls in recent months from high school coaches concerned about rapid gains in weight and strength among their players.
Woodward would not name the schools or coaches, but he said they were in large and small districts.
An affidavit filed last week in Tulsa County District Court says the state drug agency and Tulsa Police Department have been investigating the illegal use and distribution of performance-enhancement drugs in the Tulsa area for approxi mately three months.
Area high school coaches said in interviews this week that the possibility of student-athletes using steroids is a legitimate concern.
"I would not be surprised if it hit the high-school age," said Allan Trimble, the head football coach at Jenks High School. "To me, it's like any other controlled substance. It's available, and in some people's eyes, you might get an advantage from using it."
Performance-enhancement drugs can improve strength, muscle mass and endurance, and they can aid in recovery from injuries. However, they can also increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer and psychological problems.
The cost of testing: Danny Rennels, the executive secretary of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, the governing body of high school sports, said public schools are not required to test athletes for steroids.
The biggest reason is cost, which varies among testing companies, he said.
Rennels and high school coaches estimated that steroids tests would cost between $55 and $90 per student.
"That's a large amount of money to test every student," Rennels said.
Coaches have instead learned to identify signs of steroid use among their athletes.
Common signs include sudden aggressive behavior, swelling of the forehead, acne on the chest and back, and increased blood pressure.
Broken Arrow: Broken Arrow High School has perhaps the most thorough school substance-abuse policy in the state, largely because steroids are included in its drug testing of students in grades eight to 12 who participate in activities, said Keith Isbell, the school district's chief communications officer.
The district also has an "under reasonable suspicion" policy that allows it to require drug testing of athletes. The criteria for suspicion of using steroids and other performance-enhancement drugs include unusual increase in size and strength.
Several Broken Arrow High School students were arrested in a June 2005 steroids sting that involved a coach at Webster High School in Tulsa.
The students were involved in bodybuilding, not in high school team sports.
No charges were filed against the students, whom police never identified. The coach, Scott Wayne Moody, later pleaded guilty to three felonies, including the unlawful delivery of anabolic steroids.
Jenks: Jenks High School requires a mandatory drug test at the start of the season for all of its more than 800 athletes, but the test does not detect steroids, Trimble said.
The district also requires athletes and their parents to sign a nine-page consent form that gives the district the right to test for steroids if coaches suspect their use.
Trimble has had three football players tested for steroids within the past five years.
"We had a couple of kids that I thought got big in a hurry and had the attitude to match," he said. "I had some concerns.
"Fortunately, they came back negative."
A first violation of the district's drug policy would bar the athlete from participating in sports and other secondary activities for 30 school days.
If an athlete tested positive again for steroids, an 18-week suspension would be imposed.
Trimble said that if public school funds ever became available to require mandatory testing for steroids, he would support it.
"Those drugs can kill people like any other drug," he said.
Tulsa: Travis Hill, the football coach and athletic director at East Central High School, started a substance-abuse program about eight years ago but soon abandoned it because of litigation issues.
Because East Central was the only school in the Tulsa district to have a drug-testing policy, parents could challenge the fairness and validity of any positive test, he said.
Today, if Hill suspects that an athlete is using steroids, he consults the student's parents and provides some form of counseling.
Even if he had significant evidence to believe that an athlete was using steroids, Hill would not conduct a test without the parents' permission, he said.
Union: Steve Dunlap, the athletic director at Union Public Schools, said his district also does not test for steroids or any other drug.
As with Tulsa Public Schools, Union officials believe that education is the key to preventing students from using any form of drugs.
"If a coach believes that they have somebody taking something, we would contact the parents and go from there," he said.
Bishop Kelley: Private schools may have more resources than public ones to test students for illegal drugs.
Bishop Kelley High School officials gave approval in February for the testing of all students for drugs, including marijuana, opiates and Ecstasy.
If reasonable suspicion exists that a student is under the influence of any other drug, a specific test for that drug can be performed.

David Schulte 581-8367

david.schulte@tulsaworld.com

Copyright © 2011, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved



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Drug Free Olympics Assessment:

Name:_________________________________ Period:__________




  1. List at least three risk factors of taking performance enhancing drugs:



  1. Describe one thing you learned about the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).



  1. Write at least one paragraph describing why drug-free competition is so important.


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