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Steroid Use Suspected in Some Area Schools
Scott Price The popularity and pressure associated with high school sports, football in particular, has created an environment in some area schools in which performance enhancing drugs, anabolic-androgenic steroids in particular, are abused by some young athletes. The use of anabolic steroids by athletes to build muscle mass is illegal. The benefits are all for near-term competition, but the cost in personal health later on may be very high for individuals who use these drugs. Last week, a Colleyville mother called The Courier because she had found syringes and anabolic steroids in the room of her son, a local high school student. The woman wanted to remain anonymous to protect her son from reprisals. The woman said she asked her son where he got the steroids, and her son told her that he got the drugs from other students in his school. “He said [some of] the football players are using steroids,” the woman said. Though we did not attempt to quantify this claim, and though all the coaches we talked to deny that steroids are a problem in their programs, it did not take The Courier staff long to validate this mother’s concerns. A number of high school athletes and parents from four area high schools talked openly to us, all on condition of anonymity. An informal, but unscientific, survey by The Courier found knowledge of steroid use among students at all area high schools, including Colleyville Heritage, Grapevine, Keller and Carroll. Some athletes at Carroll, in contrast to what we heard from the other three high schools, told us that the problem is minimal there because of the proactive stance of coaches, particularly in football. Steroids can be purchased through the Internet legally with a prescription or illegally from foreign suppliers or black marketers. Often, the black market steroids are sold in body building gyms. High school athletes say that this is a problem for two reasons: 1) pressure to perform and compete, and 2) because there is no testing for steroids in high school. In contrast, college athletes are randomly tested for drugs, including anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are synthesized testosterone. They are intended to fight anemia in people with liver problems, build body mass in HIV patients, or they can be used to help recover from injury. All these uses should be under the supervision of a physician. Chris Cunningham, CHHS head football coach, said he is constantly talking to the kids about avoiding alcohol and drugs, including steroids. “To my knowledge, they [football players] aren’t using any steroids or anything like that,” he said. Cunningham said there isn’t much benefit to using steroids for football players because the muscle growth outpaces tendon and ligament strength, so injuries are common. He said if a player is injured, he isn’t much help for the team. Cunningham said in his 20 years as a football coach, he has not tolerated his players using alcohol or drugs. “In all my years of coaching, I have come across one that I know about, and that was when I was an assistant coach at Grapevine,” he said. Grapevine High School Head Coach Gary Mullins, who has been with Grapevine since 1992, said he is not aware of his players using steroids. “I don’t think I’ve had any experience with having a young man in athletics who was on steroids,” Mullins said. “We don’t tolerate steroids.” CISD Athletic Director Ronny Tipps said he has been with the district for about a year, but has no experience with steroids here or in other districts. He said the Carroll ISD is against drugs, including steroids. “We are totally against them,” he said. “We feel that you should get there through hard work and doing what you are supposed to do and not using drugs that have many hazards,” he said. The specific drug the Colleyville woman found was Nandrolone Decanoate, which is more commonly referred to as Deca. This is one of the most commonly used anabolic-androgenic steroids. A check on the Internet by The Courier found Deca available in 200-milligram vials for $14 each. The vial used locally, however, was 300 milligrams. Some Internet sites state they have a doctor on staff willing to write a prescription so that the steroids can be purchased legally. According to Dr. Christine Quatro, a local orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine physician, side effects of “anabolic-androgenic steroids … are physical, psychological and social. Physical effects include coronary heart disease, liver disease, testicular atrophy, prostate cancer, breast enlargement in men and breast size decrease in women. They can increase body hair, facial hair, increase the concentration of certain parts of blood and thicken the vocal cords. “Psychological effects include a decrease in libido, increased aggression including homicide and suicide, affective and psychotic disorders and addiction in some users. It is shown that users of anabolic-androgenic steroids often use other illicit drugs, and may be at increased risk of hepatitis and AIDS if they share needles. “Use of anabolic-androgenic steroids in adolescence has been shown to cause premature growth plate closure in some students, resulting in permanently short stature. “The distribution of steroids without a valid prescription is a felony,” Quatro said. Parents we talked to said that the symptoms of use that are easiest to spot are “a worse than normal case of acne” and “very aggressive” behavior. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that in 2003, 3.5 percent of 12th grade students had used anabolic steroids at least once. A student drug survey conducted in 2002 in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District found that about 2 percent of those in the 12th grade had used steroids at least once. Input we have received in the past week, though largely anecdotal, suggests the problem may be in significantly larger proportions than this among area high school athletes. According to research reported in an article, “Use of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids in Adolescents: Winning, Looking Good or Being Bad?” up to 12 percent of U.S. male high-school athletes and up to 2 percent of female high-school athletes use steroids (Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Jan. 2001). If other enhancing supplements are included, like creatine, the number of 11th and 12th grade athletes who use such substances approaches 28 percent (Pediatrics, Aug. 2001). The University Inter-scholastic League (UIL) Web site expresses a rather arm’s length, third-person opinion about steroid use in high school, however, saying only that the “University Scholastic League discourages the use of steroids by their participants.” The UIL Web site also references Texas law, specifically House Bill 3420, which “prohibits any public school employee from distributing, selling, or marketing any performance-enhancing compound to athletes.” “I don’t for a minute think that any of our coaches are condoning this, or promoting it,” said GCISD Executive Director of Administration Steve Trachier, who oversees district athletic programs. “And I believe that any coach who did condone it or promote it, does not need to be working for our district.” Beyond the considerable health risks, said Quatro, “there are moral and ethical reasons to encourage your child to stay away from [steroids]. It is a form of cheating, and there is no justifying their use.” Control of the problem involves media exposure of the issue, Quatro said, and “unannounced, out-of-competition testing and prevention programs for all athletes at the high school level.” |
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
