The Effects Of Anabolic Steroids

When speaking on the battle against drugs, most people think towards the more notorious and well-known substances like heroin, cocaine, and even tobacco, but little mention is given to prescription drugs like anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are artificial drugs that coincide with male sex hormones like testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.1 After a few years of study in the early 1900s it became apparent that these steroids promote the growth of muscle and develop male sexual characteristics in men and women. The different types of testosterone are formed in the testes whereas the hormone is created mostly in the ovaries and adrenal glands of women. Anabolic Steroids were originally made to help men suffering from impotence and other male
Some are more burdensome than they are harmful, like acne and breast development in men. Meanwhile the more dangerous side effects, like heart disease and liver cancer, are rare but need to be handled with vigilance.1 “Roid rage” is also a common cause when it comes to the use of anabolic steroids. This is shown in acts of uncontrollable violence and aggressiveness from the user. The effects mentioned before can be prevented and even reversed once the person using the drug stops taking them, but other effects like voice deepening in females, are permanent.2 Other irreversible effects of using anabolic steroids include male pattern baldness and heart damage.2 The majority of these effects were only recently discovered, so the severity of the drug’s use can only be
The drug’s use as an agent to help men suffering from impotence was researched and studied long before the drug ever reached the shelves of stores. What people didn’t realize at the time was the drug’s astounding ability to rapidly grow muscle fibers in the body. By the time this growth became associated with taking anabolic steroids, users were already beginning to feel the side effects of its use. To bring the harm done by steroids to an end, it will take more than just letting people know of the potential dangers. Steps will have to be taken to get that message across to the youth who are most inclined to use the anabolic steroids. In 1990, the possession and use of these drugs made a felony across the United states, along with the likes of heroin, methamphetamine, and cocaine. This helped make acquiring anabolic steroids more difficult for the average user, meanwhile others use illicit means to get the drug. Different organizations such as the Taylor Hooton Foundation are in place solely to educate young athletes on the dangers of using anabolic steroids and to dissuade them from doing so. The willingness of young people to look past the negative side effects of anabolic steroids can mostly be attributed to their lack of education on the matter. This however, can be