
Originally Posted by
Metalject
Good points. IMO the way a lot of coaches and parents approach high school sports, especially football is beyond ridiculous. I remember when I played high school ball the coaches telling us how serious this was and how this would be what defined and developed us as we moved into adulthood. I actually remember a coach telling us there would never be anything in our life as important as this and how the entire town was counting on us. Are you kidding me? This is insane talk but it's exactly what is said and it seems to be similar in a lot of schools. When this is the kind of thing that's said it's not surprising that young kids will do anything and everything they can to make sure they succeed...after all, it's the most important stage of their life...so they're told.
All that said I do not believe steroids are a massive problem in U.S. high schools. A 2010 NIDA study found that high school seniors were the largest group of steroid users among high school students. The study found that approximately 2% of all high school seniors had used or at least tried anabolic steroids at some point in their life. While that's a large number when you take into account all high school seniors across the country it's not an alarming number on the whole. The vast majority of high school students including ball players have not used steroids based on this studies findings. When compared to other drugs, hard drugs as well as tobacco and alcohol, this is where the numbers becoming staggering and alarming. The idea of an adolescent steroid epidemic in the U.S. is probably one of the biggest pieces of propaganda in history.