roids
...ke them to the next level. There are the people who justify steroid abuse because of these reasons, claiming that their use in sports and other activities are just the added element that an athlete needs to boost their performance. However, there has not yet been any definite medical research to prove that steroid abuse is linked to severe medical conditions (Cowart, 33). Only the warnings that come from users that are currently dealing with medical difficulties that most likely have been a result of steroid use. These people are living proof of the harmful effects of steroids. Cigarettes and alcohol are major contributors to thousands of deaths each year (47). A lot of people have family members or friends that are suffering from diseases and health conditions cause by smoking and drinking. Sometimes these can lead to an early grave, sometimes a very painful death. Some people will use these situations as a reason not to drink or smoke. A similar situation would be a young athlete watching their muscular idols suffering from medical problems caused by steroids. Some of these professionals will even admit to their former steroid abuse in hopes to persuade the thousands of young athletes that the quick results of steroids do not pay off in the end. When these kids see the long-term results that occur to professional athletes, they should realize the need to stay away from steroids or give up the addiction that they have to them. This might mean they will have to give up the idea of the body that they have always dreamed of. If someone who was currently abusing steroids was to listen to what a former addict has gone through, that person might very well be persuaded to give up the addiction. In the end these people would have the advantage because they will be the ones who are going to live a longer and happier life. Also, the physiological and psychological dependencies caused by steroids are most of the time consistent with steroid abusers (Silverstein, 61). These problems cause personal problems with the user as well as with the family and friends of the user. Once a young user sees the results in his body from the steroids, there is no turning back. It would be his worst nightmare to go back to that little body that was made fun of or picked on in school. When athletes see the performance advantages that they have gained, they will soon want to take more steroids because they will get used to the level they have obtained. For the athletes to stop and drop the addiction all of the sudden is not possible because second best is not acceptable in their minds. These addictions can also lead them to lose interest in friends and family because they are concentrating only on their physique and their athletic improvements. One of the worst results of steroid abuse is that the drug will cause "roid rages." This is when out of no where there are spontaneous acts of violence and abuse towards anyone a user comes in contact with. Roid rage is usually caused when the user is cycling on and off of steroids (Lukas, 29). This creates a psychological rollercoster that can lead to violent outbursts because of the need to workout and release tension. The situation can be worse if the user is non-athletic because football players can release a lot of their rage on the field. Some sever addictions can include symptoms such as increased libido, sexual perversion, and psychotic episodes (48). Steroid induced criminal violence and murder has been documented many times (Park, 97). For instance, Horace K. Williams, a twenty-three year old steroid user, was tried in May 1988 for the brutal murder of a hitchhiker (Gallaway, 104). Williams did not have a violent history and he did not have any major psychological problems. But Williams had started using steroids in order to improve his athletic performance. He played football in high school and after high school he got into bodybuilding. During his trial he described how steroids changed his behavior. In his first stage of steroid use, he used 5mg of oral Dianabol for two weeks and then 25mg per day for the next five weeks. Williams experienced an increase in confidence, which increased his ability to ask women out. This gave him a strong willingness to train harder. He also was increasing the steroids he used. He now was stacking Dianabol and oxymetholone orally along with injections of testosterone cypionate. He then described how he became easily agitated into violent behavior and he then was going around threatening people. At one time he tried to get off steroids but he "was so depressed that I thought I might kill myself if I didn't get back on steroids. I felt like a wimp when I wasn't on steroids." He then started taking higher doses, stacking four to five different steroids daily. He became obsessed with fighting, he felt like everyone was afraid of him, and he got to the point were he could not control his own madness. Steroids caused this state of mind in Williams. One night he picked up a hitchhiker, drove him to an empty field, undressed him, beat him to death with a board and a lead pipe, scalped him, shaved the hair off his arms and legs, hung him with a rope, and repeatedly ran him over with his car (121). Steroids are also becoming more common in women's athletics. The doses of steroids that women will take when they are cycling on steroids can have a lot of dangerous side effects. Some of the short-term effects involve deepened voice, loss of scalp hair, growth of facial hair and chest hair, and also genital problems. Women may also have irregularities in their menstrual cycle. The long-term side effects for women have not been determined yet. Even with all of these effects, steroid use is very common in the sp...