The effect of steroids

It's safe to say that steroids are sweeping the nation, they're the greatest thing since sliced bread, but not in a good way. People seem to think that “the roids'” make you put on muscle without doing anything but that's not all, they give you cancerous liver tumors, I'll elaborate later. Steroids make it easier for you to build muscle when you exercise or work out. They also make you look like a ape/monster/Jason Giambi who should be shunned by society. I know that sounds a little funny but it's true steroids make you look like an ape, for men at least and they're a kind of drug.
Steroids are used to lower one's self-consciousness about their body or to enhance their performance in sports.
Steroids are widely spread among many sports such as baseball, football, soccer, tennis, hockey, basketball, heck even cricket players use steroids. Well ya name it that sport is probably infested with steroid abusers. Some ways of seeing if someone is cycling (using steroids on and off in different periods) are:
For Men: Male breasts, violence also none as “Roid' Rage”, ape like brows and features, baldness, shrinking of the testicles and decrease in sperm production. (http://www.nida.nih.gov)
For Women: Facial hair, baldness, deepening of voice, and probably a little “Roid' Rage”. (http://www.nida.nih.gov)

For Teens there are the same side affects, but it also stunts your growth, if you haven't already had your had your growth spurt. (http://www.nida.nih.gov)
There are also a lot of side effects when cycling steroids such as: an increase of bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol, and severe acne.
There are three ways to use steroids and they are:
By using a needle. (Make sure you know who you're dealer is and poke the right place).
By taking pills. (Just don't choke).
By applying lotion. ( just apply lotion in the right place and nowhere you'd regret later. Oh and if ya get caught do as Barry Bonds and say you didn't know someone was rubbing lotion on you.)
There are also a lot of side effects when cycling steroids such as: an increase of bad cholesterol and decrease of good cholesterol, severe acne, tumors within the liver, both cancerous and not, and if using a needle there's a possible chance of getting HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.
You'll often hear when talking about steroids the words anabolic-androgenic. Anabolic means “muscle building” and androgenic means “masculine characteristics”.
The most recent steroid scandal was the Barry Bonds BALCO steroid scandal concerning
Bond's and his trainer Greg Anderson. He was just one of many major league sports players, and idols to both young and old, to use steroids and deny ever using them.
He along with Mark McGuire, Jose Conseco, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmero and Curt Schilling sat in front of congress
and lied about ever using performance enhancing drugs, also none as steroids.
Well maybe schilling didn't do em' and McGuire was upfront about using em', Conseco had to go write a book about jacking himself, and other players, up with steroids called Juiced.
Here's what Greg Schwab, a principle at Tigard High School in Oregon, has to say about kids and steroids,
"[Kids] see these tremendously huge bodies that are moving around the football field or the hockey rink or the basketball court, and they see these guys doing incredible feats of athletic skill and the kids want to emulate that, so they're going to get there however they can."
In 2004 1.9% of eighth graders used Anabolic steroids, 2.4% of tenth graders used steroids and 3.4% of twelve graders used steroids. That may seem very small, but should teens use steroids at all? To tell you the truth, no, steroids are bad enough for adults but for teens that's another story. If you crunch the numbers.... that's 7.7% of all
eighth through tenth graders, in the U.S., use steroids, half of which probably use needles to inject themselves. Needles being one of the most popular ways of taking steroids and the first way that would come to one's mind. Using needles makes the teens vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and whatever decease's that can be transmitted through needles.
What I'm trying to say is how does this lyin', cheatin' and steroid abusin' effect teens?
If you have any questions, comments or insight please e-mail us at primemeridian@meridianacademy.org