Teens Just Wanna Be Juicin' Like the Pros

The issue of steroids in professional sports has become an extremely controversial issue over the last decade. Some pros claimed that they didn't even know what they were taking. Others defended themselves with the age-old “but everyone else is doing it” excuse.  Whether the pros were justified in their own eyes or not, steroids have become a serious issue on yet another front. Unsurprisingly, the fad of taking roids has trickled down to today's youth, and some are saying that the problem is only getting worse!

A majority of young users don't know the health risks that are associated with taking steroids. In fact, it is reported that in some areas, athletes as young as thirteen years old are beginning to try these performance enhancing drugs, and not only for athletic reasons, but for the mere sake of vanity as well. But how is a thirteen year old expected to know about stunted growth and roid rage, when all he sees are his childhood heroes using the same stuff to jack homers all the way into the Hall of Fame.  It's the strokes and heart attacks that are generally avoided in the advertisements of these drugs.  But to hear about this sort of thing, you'll have to talk to parents like Don Hooton, whose son Taylor committed suicide as a result of the depression that stemmed from steroid use.  

Right now there's only one North American entity, public or private, whose sole purpose is to teach people about the dangers of performance enhancing drugs: the Taylor Hooten Foundation. The problem is that teenagers see themselves as invincible, and even knowing the risks aren't enough to resist the temptations when that playoff title is on the line. In states like New Jersey, Texas, and Florida, state representatives are currently trying to establish plans for testing student athletes for steroid use. The problem is, who's going to pay for it? Certainly we don't think that high school athletic boards have that kind of money...

So with stats like 6 to 11 percent of high school age males using these performance enhancing drugs, what's to be done to keep this problem from growing? One plan in New Jersey is calling for steroid testing to be limited to post-season players only. And while this seems like a good start, when are all the other states going to jump on board to fight this problem? Organizations like the Taylor Hooten Foundation are great, but they are going to have to have help if all the youth of America are to be educated about the harmful effects of these drugs.

Maybe the only solution is for the pros to step forward and admit their mistakes. After all, isn't it their fault that the youth got the idea to juice up in the first place?