PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS IN HIGH SCHOOL
Laurence Mermelstein, M.D.
There are a fair amount of people who continue to remain ambivalent regarding athletes like Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and their involvement with performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). Many fans feel that whatever the professional athletes want to put in their bodies is their business. Besides, all those home runs makes for exciting baseball. In addition, the major league organizations have been equally ambivalent. It is only recently that there is a firm anti-steroid policy in baseball with significant penalties in both the major and minor leagues. Performance enhancing drug use is not limited to athletes. These drugs have been touted by media personalities, police and military personnel and by “anti-aging clinics” to build strength, endurance and to “look and feel younger”.
What are P.E.D’s?
There are many substance considered to be “performing enhancing”. According to the US Anti-Doping Agency (www.usantidoping.org), the list includes many drugs which have otherwise legitimate medical uses. This list includes:
- – more than 50 types of anabolic androgenic steroids, including androstanediol, stanozol, and testosterone and its various derivatives
- – more than 30 types of stimulants, including amphetamine and its analogs, ephedrine, and related substances
- – human growth hormone (HGH)
- – insulin-like growth factors
- – erythropoietin and related compounds
Currently, the most commonly used drugs to enhance musculoskeletal performance are testosterone, androstenedione, anabolic steroids, and human growth hormone. Beyond the obvious importance of eradicating these drugs to provide a “level playing field, we need to avoid exposure of our young athletes to these very powerful and dangerous drugs.
- Side Effects Of Androgenic Anabolic Steroid Use Include:
- Acne
- Liver dysfunction
- Damage to brain tissue (neurons)
- Premature closure of the growth centers of long bones (in adolescents)
- which may result in stunted growth
- Increased aggressiveness and sexual appetite, sometimes resulting in
- aberrant sexual and criminal behavior
- Impotence with chronic or repeated use
- Testicular shrinkage (testicular atrophy)
- Breast enlargement (gynecomastia)
- Enlargement of prostate gland
- Reduction of sperm production (cessation of spermatogenesis)
- Male pattern baldness
- Masculinization (in girls)
- Excessive hair growth on the face and body
- Deepening of the voice
- Enlargement of the clitoris
- Abnormal menstrual cycles (suppression of ovarian function and menstruation)
The Magnitude of the Problem:
- When looking at the statistics of PED use in this country, the magnitude of the problem is truly disturbing. If you think that high school steroid use is a non- issue, think again. A 2005 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 4.8 percent of high school students had used steroids. All one has to do is Google “buy anabolic steroids” and the search will turn up over 5 million web sites. Some shocking data points include:
- 15 million—the number of Americans who use performance-enhancing drugs, according to one estimate
- $1 billion plus—the amount of money spent annually in the United States on legal (prescribed) human growth hormone (HGH)
- 4 million—the number of prescriptions for testosterone filled by U.S. pharmacies in 2004
- 3 million—the number of Americans who use anabolic steroids
- 750,000—the estimated number of children who have used steroids and HGH
Prevention at the High School Level
The main reason that there needs to be a firm anti-doping policy in ALL major league sports is to prevent aspiring young athletes from feeling the pressure to use these drugs in order to compete. We need to protect the integrity of the games as well as the players who have made the choice not to use these drugs.
Enforcement of anti-doping policies up until recently has been non-existent at the high school level. In California, the state’s interscholastic athletic governing board now requires every high school athlete to sign a pledge that he or she will not use performance enhancing drugs. In addition, Every coach must attend a course on recognizing the symptoms of steroid use and its prevention. Many schools are requiring that parents and athletes attend a similar course.
But what about stronger deterents? Many feel that education is only part of a successful program to eradicate steroid use. Strong punishments for steroid use needs to be implemented to eliminate the cheaters, or the “honest athletes” would potentially find themselves at a disadvantage. With over 7 million active high school athletes, testing even a percentage of these athletes would be potentially cost prohibitive.
Last year, New Jersey became the first state to begin testing its high school athletes. Testing was only performed at post-season games and then only a random sampling of students were tested. Even this limited amount of testing is estimated to cost over $100,000.
Three other states have implemented screening programs:
Illinois
- Testing begins with 2008-2009 school year
- Random testing of athletes competing in sectional, regional, and championship games
- Penalty for positive result: 1-year suspension from sports
Texas
- Covers more than 40,000 athletes in all sports
- Random testing of 3 percent of all athletes
- Penalty for positive result: First time—30-day suspension from sport; second time—1-year suspension; third time—permanent ban
Florida
- Currently in first year of testing
- Random testing of 1 percent of weightlifters and football and baseball players
Penalty for positive result: 90-day suspension
State Sen. Andrew Lanza, a Republican from Staten Island, introduced legislation on Jan. 18 calling for secondary schools to test male and female student-athletes for the performance-enhancing drugs. Borrowing wording from legislation passed in Texas, which enacted the country’s most comprehensive program last spring, the bill would require 30% of all high schools to screen for anabolic steroids, with 3% of athletes at designated schools to submit urine samples at least once a year. Students would be required to sign a pledge to be drug-free and agree to random testing, and parents would have to sign a waiver acknowledging state laws regarding steroid possession and distribution, as a condition of athletic eligibility.
We as healthcare professionals, parents, coaches and school officials need to step forward in this state and demand and support such a stringent testing program. This mandate needs to come down from the state level, as the success of other states’ programs have relied on this legal pressure. Enacting such legislation in New York State with significant punishments for even first time offenders will be an important step forward in cleaning up high school sports.
