The Steroid Problem

I got an email from a Safe and Drug Free Coordinator from a State Department of Education. She wanted to preview our DVDs about substance abuse. In particular, Alcohol: True Stories Hosted by Matt Damon and Drugs: True Stories. But she said skip Steroids: True Stories Hosted by Curt Schilling. “I don’t think steroids are a problem in our state,” she wrote.

A whole state? No steroids? I wanted to write back, “How do you do it? What’s your secret!?”

Her colleagues in other states have been responding differently, letting us know that the materials are badly needed.

This doesn’t surprise me – not any longer. When I began producing the steroids DVD I didn’t know any kids – I didn’t think – who’d pump drugs into their body to give them a competitive edge or a more muscular or toned body.

But I’ve spent a few years talking with people who have used steroids. A neighbor, John, whose story is also told in the Words Can Work: When Talking About Steroids booklet, shocked me when he admitted that as a teenager he’d used steroids – for a month.

“I developed man boobs,” he told me. “I still have them. I tried liposuction to get rid of them, but they came back.”

Man boobs are just one of the many potential side effects of anabolic steroid use.

Nate Hunter, a sophomore at Northeastern University, is profiled Steroids: True Stories Hosted by Curt Schilling. He’s a great kid. Handsome and muscular who throws a record-breaking shot put. He’s earned his success by busting his tail. “Steroids are definitely available,” he told me. “They are very easily accessible.”

Nate says in high school guys were always pushing him to try illegal supplements egging him on. “Imagine how far you could throw if you were tried steroids!” they’d say.

Nate’s former principal, Dr. Joe Sullivan is a friend. I asked him whether steroids were a problem in his school. He looked at me as if to say, “Are you crazy? Of course they are.”

Here’s what Peter Roby, the director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society says about anabolic steroid use.

“Ask yourselves, ‘Is there anyone in our program that we suspect is abusing steroids? Has their appearance changed that much? Are they breaking out with acne like we haven’t seen before? Are you hearing rumors?’ If we’re not willing to have the conversation, we’re not going to fix the problem.”

Resources
Steroids: True Stories Hosted by Curt Schilling
Words Can Work: When Talking About Steroids

Related Issues and Answers columns
A sister’s story
A story of addiction
Avoiding steroids
Girls and steroids

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