Steroids

Steroids are used through out the world to enhance physical appearance and overall strength. Steroids have been proven to be harmful to the human body, causing serious physical defects or death. They are widely used around the world. Many doctors prescribe steroids for medical reasons, while others purchase steroids off the black market looking to enhance strength and physical appearance.

The term steroid refers to a group of chemicals that are found in many plants and animals. Most steroids found in humans look mostly like cholesterol. Many different glands in the human body produce steroids which act as hormones. The body makes hormones that help body organs do their job. Many hormones only work for specific organs. Insulin is a hormone that helps us use sugar for energy, while growth hormone helps us manage our energy supplies. (Luckas 22)

The most familiar steroid hormones are testosterone, the natural male sex hormone. The hormone produced by females is estrogen. Birth control pills are made of types of estrogen and progesterone, another female steroid hormone. Testosterone is made in the testes, which is produce to grow. Testosterone is the steroid that has caused concerns in sports medicine. A small amount is also found in the female ovaries, which helps produce typical female characteristics such as smooth skin, high-pitched voices, wider hips, and the distribution of fat that forms breasts and hips. (Brower 34)

During the year of nineteen thirty- nine, many scientists suspected the sex steroid hormones might improve physical athletic performance. Scientific studies that were performed in 1944 confirmed this. "It is rumored, but has not been proven, that one of the earliest uses of steroids was by Hitler's troops. It was thought that steroids would help increase their fighting ability". When the World War II was over, many prisoners were the first treated with steroids; this helped them build up their body weight due to not eating for a long time.

Steroids are used by Athletes to enhance their strength for different competitions. It is believed that steroids have a seventy five percent increase in body strength, also enhancing endurance of athletes. The Russian weight lifting teams in the early 1950s used steroids in such high doses that many of the women began to look very manly. Sports organizations began to give chromosome tests to the women to make sure they were women. After a few years, the use of steroids became more common among athletes in endurance sports, such as long distance marathon runners, and swimmers. Non-athlete use has been a very recent trend; most people use them just to improve their physical appearance.

Steroid use in sports has also been studied; weight lifters, power lifters, and bodybuilders are the primary users of steroids. Around 50 percent of male and 10 percent of female bodybuilders report using steroids. Percentages are lower for other athletes, including those in field spots such as football players. Female athletes are in lower ranges from 20 percent in strength sports participants to 12 percent to in endurance runners. In 1995, 120 football players were asked to complete a survey to determine how many used steroids. About 67 percent of the players reported using steroids. One effect of steroids to be "beneficial" is the increase in aggression or hostile behavior. "The year 1988 was called the year of steroids because so many athletes were caught taking them at various sporting event, including the Olympic". (Virginia 17)

Detecting steroids is sometimes a difficult situation. A chromatograph is used to measure steroids in the urine. This machine is known to be pretty accurate, and can measure thousands of different chemicals. Small amounts of urine are put onto a column that helps separate different chemicals. The sample goes into an oven, and the chemical is measured. There are some problems with the chromatograph, but the biggest problem is the amount of drug being measured is very small. The body normally makes testosterone, so it is very hard to prove that a person is injecting extra testosterone into his or her body. It can only be detected if it is noticeable that the person has exceeded 5 times the normal amount, showing that he or she maybe taken illegal testosterone. This machine and the greater improvements in the laboratory helped catch Ben Johnson at the 1988 summer Olympics. Ben was taking stanozol to help him win certain races; after he was caught his Olympic medals were taken away.

Even though technology has improved making it easier to detect steroid, Athletes try to figure ways on how to beat tests. Many athletes use steroids only during their training periods. Steroids do not have to be present in the body during the actual competition. The beneficial effects can be seen many weeks after the person has stopped taking the steroid. Athletes are benefited, because almost all urine tests are announced, giving the athlete time to let the steroids get out of their bodies. Oral steroids are usually stopped taken three to six weeks before competing. The greatest risk for being tested is during competition. (55)

Most adult and adolescent users get their steroids from the black market. Many times the illegal source often comes from other countries. Sometimes it is as easy as sending money and an order form to a foreign address and receiving steroids in the mail. Other ways of getting steroids is from "drug pushers" who are people whom by and sell drugs that appear at gyms of health clubs. (Lukas 43)

Many of the potential users are working our in the gym. Adults and teenagers can be drug pushers. If they are caught, they can be put in jail. Unlike many other drugs it is very difficult to detect drugs in the mail. The government has specially trained dogs to sniff out drugs,