Some athletes will always try to cheat their competitors through the use of banned substances. It's sad, but true, and sports administrative bodies need to do everything possible to stay a step ahead of unethical athletes. It may be said that sports doping is less a specific drug issue than a competitors' integrity issue. A substance is just a tool; if it's not one, it will be another. Criminalizing anabolic steroids hasn't eradicated them from sports. Team coaches and trainers at all levels -- from high school athletics to elite and professional sports -- need to know what their players may be up to. College administrators need to know what their student bodybuilders are up to. Not only can illicit anabolic steroid use result in an embarrassing media circus, but also, more importantly, it can jeopardize the health of those athletes who abuse these hormones in high dosages, for prolonged periods, or without medical monitoring or advice. Everyone in sports should know exactly how anabolic steroids are defined, and how the laws deal with them.

Is high school steroid use a "growing epidemic" as alarmist media sources suggest? No, according to the best evidence available. According to the 2008 Monitoring the Future Study, 1.4% of 8th graders, 1.4% of 10th graders, and 2.2% of 12th graders reported using steroids at least once in their lives. But those numbers are down from previous years. According to the 2002 Monitoring the Future Study, for example, the numbers were 2.5% of 8th graders, 3.5% of 10th graders, and 4.0% of 12th graders. Obviously things seem to moving in the right direction, despite the scare stories. But the fact that any high school students are illicitly using steroids is troubling indeed. How can we best discourage adolescent steroid use? We can and should recite for our teens the traditional list of possible steroid side effects that are presented to all users, but we should present only the real risks, not some hyperbolic "Reefer Madness" version that destroys all credibility. While the media have exaggerated and sensationalized steroid side effects, there are potentially serious side effects of abuse even to adults. The true potential for health risks should not be ignored, but rather qualified.  For ideas on how to present the topic of steroid use to teens, see "Anabolic Steroids and Our Teens" in Dolfzine online fitness magazine.

Mr. Collins is available for consultations on the legal consequences of using steroids for sports performance purposes (by general office email at info@cmgesq.com or by phone at 516-294-0300, weekdays 2 - 5 pm EST). In February 2005, he appeared as an invited speaker and panelist on the topic of doping and drug testing in college sports at a recent conference on sports law and ethics, "Winning at All Costs: Today's Addiction" (see http://www.valpo.edu/law/sportsconf/). The Chicago conference was sponsored by the Valparaiso School of Law and featured broadcaster Bob Costas as keynote speaker. In November 2005, Mr. Collins appeared as an invited speaker and panelist at "From Grand Slams to Grand Juries: Performance Enhancing Drug Use in Sports," New England Law Review Symposium 2005, Boston, Mass. (see http://www.nesl.edu/lawrev/Symposium/05/index.htm).