Is Anabolic Steroid Testing at the High School Level an Effective Deterrent - Research Paper Example

Steroid testing at the high school level an effective deterrent Introduction Several high schools and universities have started testing students for drug abuse and certain programs have been conducted to test students for anabolic steroid use. The main aim of all these programs is to act as a source of deterrence and to put a stop to the usage of steroids among high school students, especially athletic students. During 2007 a program for testing the use of steroids among high school students was conducted and for this purpose the state of Texas spends more than $6 million (Assael, 2009). Similar kind of programs has been conducted in other states such as Florida, Illinois and New Jersey. The director of the Center for Drug Free sports who managed random drug tests in the state of Florida and New Jersey stated that due to these tests, students conduct a cost benefit analysis and after conducting these analyses they choose between the extreme of consuming or not consuming these tests (University Interscholastic League, 2012). The purpose of all these programs is the same; the purpose is to deter students from consuming steroids. This paper focuses on the question of why there is a need to deter students from consuming steroids. Body Prevalence Columbia University’s addiction and substance abuse center that operates on the national level reported that out f the total number of parents, 12% of them are very worried about their children’s use of drugs such as steroids and 27% of individuals who were in their teen ages reported that drug abuse is a huge concern of their lives (CASA, 2011). The research even states that a total of 50% of the teenagers report that abuse of drugs and alcohol is experienced by them in several settings such as events and parties and even at their homes. A study was conducted by the center during 2006 in which they figured out that high school students believe that drugs are supplied and sold within the premises of their educational settings. A study was conducted by Tuttle and other researchers in Illinois to figure out the quantity of high school students using anabolic steroids (Tuttle, 220). For this study, the researchers conducted a survey from 3047 high school students who were either freshmen or were seniors. Out of the total number of participants, 1.9% consumed anabolic steroids, out of this number, 76% were male students and remaining were female students, 595 were students of the freshmen grade and the remaining ones were seniors. Reasons Use of Anabolic Steroids is backed by several reasons; one of the main reasons is that it they are used by professional athletes for enhancement of performance (Davies, 235). Due to this image created by media, student athletes follow the footsteps of professional athletes and consume anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. Anabolic Steroids are very powerful in nature, the term anabolic refers to growth and these steroids are used in the field of medicine to grow an individual’s hormone testosterone. Physicians prescribe these drugs to individuals whose natural means of production of hormone testosterone are inefficient and is prescribed to female population who are suffering from carcinoma of breast. These steroids are mostly used by individuals who want to grow their body muscle, but these medicines are even used for non-bodybuilding purposes. Teenagers experience complex issues when they figure out that they are out of shape and to get back in shape they resort to the usage of such steroids. Negative effects High school teenagers use anabolic steroids just because they see the positive sides of using this drug. They ignore the negative side and keep abusing these drugs; these drugs have certain side effects on young teenagers. These negative effects can be temporary and negligible in nature. But continuous abuse can result in increase in the severity of side effects and may lead to permanent health issues. Liver is a critical organ of human body and its purpose is to eradicate the existing toxins from an individual’s body. If students keep abusing anabolic steroids, they may end up damaging their livers in a serious manner which may result in increase of cancer cells and it may even result in creation of sac of blood even recognized as pelosis hepatitis (Davies, 235). If these blood sacs end up bursting and leaking, the probability of an individual’s death increases. Steroids taken orally may become very difficult for the organ to digest and can result in abnormal balance in the values of the liver. This might result in rising LDL (low density lipoprotein) or may end up diminishing (HCL) high density lipoprotein. The problem with steroids that are consumed orally is that teenagers find them easy to use and due to this there is a high probability of teenagers being impacted in the manner stated earlier. Heart or cardiac diseases are one of the leading reasons of death in United States of America (Davies, 235). According to CDC, the leading cause of death in Women is cardiac diseases and among the leading causes of death, cancer even participates. The problem with use of anabolic steroids is that it may lead to cardiac diseases which become fatal over a long period of time and are not easily diagnosed at an early stage. If these drugs are not taken in accurate levels they may result in the improper growth of hormones of the male gender and may result in illnesses that may be irreversible in nature. Certain reversible issues caused by these drugs include shrinkage of male testicles and reduction in the production of sperms. Same negative impacts can become permanent if usage of these drugs is not stopped. Abuse of steroids has even been linked with certain cognitive issues involving: stress, depression, anger, continuous changes in moods, anxious behavior and others (Davies, 235). A research conducted in Northeastern University proposed that usage of steroids among children may result in permanent changes in the chemistry of the brain (LeVert 46). One of the major reasons due to which high schools and law has allowed steroid tests on high school is that usage of these substances lead to decline in the principle of sports. According to principle of sports, two teams compete against each other and try to win against each other by working hard for victory. Due to usage of steroids, competition is wiped out as one of the team has an added advantage of stronger players because of unnatural reasons. The team that has stronger players because they use anabolic steroids obtains victory but this victory is not obtained out of the essence of true competition. Effectiveness of Testing The purpose of testing high school students for anabolic steroids has been deterrence of students from the usage of these steroids and to figure out how usual these steroids are consumed. A test was conducted in New Jersey to obtain positive results of those who consume anabolic steroids at high school level. During this test over 500 urine samples were taken and when these samples were tested, the outcome was that only 1 in 500 students were found positive of abusing anabolic steroids. Conclusion Several states have accepted random drug tests and tests for anabolic steroid usage among high school students. They believe that through such tests, they can deter students from abusing such drugs. The reasons due to which these states want to deter abuse of such drugs are that a huge population is using such drugs; these drugs have social, psychological and physical negative effects for an individual. These tests are on a rise but the effectiveness of these tests are under constant scrutiny. Works Cited Assael, Shaun. "After finding little evidence of steroid abuse, four states are reevaluating their steroid policies in high school sports, writes Shaun Assael. - ESPNHS." ESPN: The Worldwide Leader In Sports. N.p., 16 Sept. 2009. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. . Casa National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse Xvi: Teens and Parents. New York, NY: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 2011. Internet resource. Davies, Richard O.. Sports in American life a history. 2nd ed. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print. LeVert, Suzanne. The facts about steroids. Tarrytown, NY: Benchmark Books, 2005. Print. Steroid Information — University Interscholastic League (UIL)." University Interscholastic League (UIL). N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. . Tuttle, LD, GL Gaa, EH Griffith, and BR Cahill. "Prevalence of Anabolic Steroid Use Among Illinois High School Students." Journal of Athletic Training. 29.3 (1994): 216-22. Print. Read More