Pressley 1
Kenneth Logan Pressley
ENGL 1102-068
Ms. Andrews
Well, If It Makes Me Stronger…
Picturing Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime, the inflated chest, the sleeve-splitting
arms, and the mountain range shoulders, what did it take to get this perfect exterior? Is it possible
for me to obtain this look? I was hit with these questions in 2010, while preparing for my junior
year of high school. I was one of the top athletes in my field, but I felt I could be more. On
anabolic steroids, I felt I would make rapid muscle gain, increase my intensity toward my sport,
and felt they would give me the competitive edge over my opponents. However with these
benefits come extreme mental, physical, and domestic health risks that I wasn’t clear on at the
time. Are the benefits worth the risks? Can steroid use be controlled? Can we afford the expense
to find out? These questions are only a couple of elements that should be brought up when
debating the issue of steroid use.
Before researching anabolic steroids, I was on the band wagon with most other people
when it came to the use of them and testing for them in sports. I thought they were all bad and
were cheating at not only sports and physical activity, but life in its entirety. I believe that my
morals were the only reason keeping me from using steroids in high school. I didn’t read into
taking them and the only thing I was ever told about them was they would “make your package
shrink” and they were cheating. So obviously I had some questions when I finally got out on my
own and started to research them. In my research, I found some clear answers to these questions,
but in turn they lead to questions that are hard to stand by because they were forcing me to be on
Pressley 2
the losing side either way I went. The largest controversial questions I found were; do we have
enough resources to have testing on a national scale, and do the urine tests even help us track
down the majority of steroid users? Then I got to thinking about what they actually do in the first
place and why people make a big deal out of them. But one cannot just take a stab at these
questions without first having basic knowledge of anabolic steroids.
Let’s start with what anabolic steroids actually are. “The word anabolic means body
building tissue” (Anabolic Steroids and Sports) according to New York State, Department of
Health. Anabolic steroids are, in the most basic form, supplements of hormones that the human
body produces naturally but at set levels. These are not to be mistaken with steroid medications
that are used for inflammation or asthma. Most anabolic steroids that people think of when they
hear the word “steroid” are the ones that are made from the hormone, testosterone. Testosterone
is a naturally produced hormone in both the male and female bodies; it is responsible for hair
growth on both genders and determines the size of the penis and testes for males. When using
anabolic steroids, one is building muscle tissue and increasing body mass by increasing the
amount of testosterone in their system. (Anabolic Steroids and Sports) The way muscles grow
and become more powerful is by the proteins in the tiny rope-like structures of the muscle called
muscle fibers. When you work out, the muscle fibers tear creating what is called micro tears.
These micro tears then heal in a matter of days and then the individual can work them out again.
If you don’t wait long enough after working that muscle, you could cause damage to it by turning
those micro tears into a fully torn muscle fiber. When someone uses anabolic steroids, they
shorten the amount of time it takes to recover from these micro tears, allowing them to workout
longer and more often. (Science of Steroids) Males produce more testosterone than their female
counterparts genetically and therefore some of the effects of steroids scare women more so than
Pressley 3
they do men. According to the NSW Government some of the side effects for women include but
are not limited to permanent deepening of the voice, facial hair growth, problems with menstrual
cycle, enlarged clitoris and health defects for child if mother is using them while pregnant. Some
side effects for men are, but aren’t limited to baldness, development of breast tissue, infertility,
and increased libido. Some side effects that could be experienced by both men and women are
diabetes, Jaundice, high cholesterol level, heart problems such as high blood pressure with risk
of heart attack, and lastly one that is controversial is permanent liver damage. (Anabolic
Steroids) “Roid Rage” can also be a side effect from using steroids, according to Christopher
Bell, a former anabolic steroid user and documentary director, “Roid rage happens in only about
five percent of the anabolic steroid using population”. (Buy Steroids) Although people like to
think of anabolic steroid users as angry and scary guys who will hurt them, this is not the case
the majority of the time. If the side effects are something you think you can live with, then let us
see how you can get your hands on some.
When looking up somewhere to get a hold of some anabolic steroids you might use the
acronym HGH, which stands for Human Growth Hormones. “When we went on Google
yesterday and typed in “Where can I buy HGH”, we got 2 million options in less than a quarter
of a second” says Donald Fehr, the Executive Director of Major League Baseball Players
Association, in a House of Representatives hearing in 2008. (Kanaby) I took the liberty of
looking this up again on April 4th, 2013, to find out that there were 16 million hits in .65 seconds.
Proportionally, that would make it three times as many hits per second more than in 2008. But
before you scurry off to buy them, you might want to know a couple of things the government
and sports programs have implemented. Firstly, in 1966 the Therapeutic Goods Act was passed,
stating that if you have, sale, provide, or shoot anyone up with anabolic steroids, you can be
Pressley 4
charged, fined, and put in prison. (Anabolic Steroids) Secondly, Congress passed the Anabolic
Steroid Control Act in 1990, which states that non-medical users of anabolic steroids were to be
processed as federal drug criminals in a measure to handle anabolic steroids like cocaine and
heroin. (Buy Steroids) Even though they seem easy to get, maybe we should think about the
consequences that could occur. In 2005, congress spent 151 days in session, 8 of those days were
used talking about steroids in sports. That is more than they spent on national health care, why
the levee broke in New Orleans, Louisiana or the amount of time they spent ending the war in
Iraq. (Anabolic Steroids and Sports) This should give you a perspective on how much the United
States of America want their nation to be “clean”, but I don’t think it stops there with their
feelings. During the House of Representatives hearing of 2008, on steroids in sports, Robert
Kanaby, the Executive Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations,
stated
“…and most importantly, is to protect and promote the fact that sports experiences should
contribute to the educational development of young people and not be a detraction towards their
development as productive citizens in our society… Certainly the issue of steroids threatens the integrity
of sport. But to us, the much more important issue, and I have heard it voiced throughout today by even
members of the subcommittee, is what happens and what occurs to the health and welfare of the young
people who get involved in these kinds of things, and that is our paramount concern”.
-Robert Kanaby
With this information stated, what do you think about using them or even having them in
your possession? Let’s continue.
What if I told you that some people make out anabolic steroids in our societies to be a
much larger deal than what they actually are, would you believe me? According to the CDC,
Pressley 5
Center for Disease Control, tobacco kills an average of 435 thousand Americans a year, alcohol
kills an average of 75 thousand Americans a year, and anabolic steroids kill an average of 3
Americans a year. THREE! Let’s look at the reasons why people take trips to the emergency
room; number one reason for visits to the emergency room, alcohol. That may not surprise you
and it didn’t me either but some of these others may shock you. The number two reason is
Cocaine, three is Marijuana, four is Heroin, but again these might not be of surprise to most
people. Then let’s skip down a bit with number ten, Amphetamine, number twenty-five, aspirin,
and number ninety-six, caffeine. Where do anabolic steroids come in at? The answer is number
142. (Buy Steroids) If reasons like aspirin and caffeine are before anabolic steroids then they
obviously can’t be too big of a deal. The Association Against Steroid Abuse’s website states,
“Estimates have the number of children who use anabolic steroids at 2-4 percent and most of
those fall in the 16-17 year old category; conversely the number of children who use marijuana is
upwards of 30 percent as is alcohol, a proven far more dangerous substance… Make no mistake;
many people beat these little tests every single day… the key, while there are several, they are all
simple. One, understand the drugs you are using. Two, understand half –lives. Three, educate
yourself on detection times. And four, use performance enhancers that are largely
undetectable.”(Steroid Abuse) Now, just because some of the tests are easy to beat, doesn’t
mean they all are, take the MLB, Major League Baseball, for instance. In 2008, Allan H. “Bud”
Selig, the MLB Commissioner, stated “In 2002, we overcame the Players Association’s historic
opposition to drug testing of any type and negotiated the first-ever Major League drug testing
program… Moreover, on our own initiative, we banned amphetamines and other stimulants in
2006. We test for these stimulants on game days, both before and after the game.” (Kanaby) This
makes it harder for players to use steroids than your “average Joe”, but then, why don’t we fund
Pressley 6
the studies to advance our testing for anabolic steroids, so that it is not easy for average people to
pass them? It is a simple answer; the money that it would take to fund these advancements could
be used in preventing the more dangerous substances in our society like alcohol and marijuana
from being used. The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network’s (ESPN’s) website says
in one of its articles in 2005, “In this economic climate, it’s going to be hard to convince anyone
to give more money to a company that has found only eight positive cases in 19,500 tests.” (High
School Testing) If we are going to spend a lot of money on these tests, but only find a couple
positive cases, why spend the money on them when we could be spending it elsewhere on larger
matters? The government has been stressed with this question quite often, what do you think?
Should anabolic steroid testing be funded? Should anabolic steroid use be considered cheating?
What do you think about Tiger Wood’s getting Lasik eye surgery? Does making his vision from
worse than the perfect 20/20, to better than perfect, 20/15, make him a cheater? He is making
himself better at a game that is all about depth perception by making his eye sight, ”super
human”. (Buy Steroids) How is this any different from using anabolic steroids to throw a fastball
faster, hit a homerun further, run a faster 100 meters, throw a shot put further? That’s for you to
decide. Could anabolic steroids be something that we eventually all use on a daily basis? What
could we, as the human species, achieve with the help of anabolic steroids and other physically
and mentally enhancing drugs? We have already genetically altered cows to make them the
strongest and healthiest they can be, but when we do it with humans it is like we are playing the
role of “god”. What will have to happen for humans to fall on the help of science? Will it be the
survival of the human race, or will it just take a lot of people doing it without major side effects,
before anabolic steroids can be used daily, without scrutiny?
Pressley 7
Works Cited
"Anabolic Steroids." Factsheet. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
<http://www0.health.nsw.gov.au/factsheets/drugandalcohol/anabolic_steroids.html>.
"Anabolic Steroids and Sports: Winning at Any Cost." Anabolic Steroids and Sports:
Winning at Any Cost. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.health.ny.gov/publications/1210/>.
"Buy Steroids @ Mattroids.blogspot.com Bodybuilder on Steroids Does
Documentary."YouTube. YouTube, 27 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eoaUsW12Ac>.
"High School Testing Loses momentum." ESPN.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.
<http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=3951039>.
Kanaby, Robert. Statement to the House, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer
Protection, Committee on Energy and Commerce. Drugs In Sports: Compromising the
Health of Athletes and Undermining the Integrity of Competition, Hearing, February 27,
2008 (Serial No. 110-93)
"Science of Steroids Documentary - Part 1." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Apr. 2012. Web. 22
Apr. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVpSTq-lgI0>.
"Steroid Abuse - Steroidabuse.com." Steroid Abuse - Steroidabuse.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 22
Apr. 2013. <http://www.steroidabuse.com/>.