The history of steroids is a pretty interesting one, with some fascinating twists and turns, all ultimately leading to one of the most-abused drugs of our time.  We’ll look here at the history of their development, and talk more particularly to the question of why they were developed.  There are very valid medical reasons for their existence, and it sheds some light on why they are so frequently misused, although it’s fairly disturbing how the abuse continues even in light of so much information that’s widely available to support the evidence that steroids are dangerous.  Through all of this, then, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re looking at, and begin to understand the medicine’s proper place in our world.

There are many different theories about the development of steroids, and some of these come from an apparently very old obsession with enhancing male characteristics.  It’s possible and even likely that people have been trying to increase testosterone production in the body for thousands of years, although the human race didn’t necessarily call it testosterone.  In recorded and verifiable history, however, it seems to have begun in earnest in the early 1930s.  Russian athletes were reported to have been injected with testosterone to improve their performance in the olympics, with some rather troubling side effects, like excessive hair growth on the body, some parts shrinking suddenly, and the like.  This became interesting to athletic coaches in the U.S., with ideas about increased performance.

At the same time, however, Leopold Ruzicka, a Croatian doctor who eventually won the Nobel Prize for chemistry, was also developing steroids to increase testosterone in Germany.  There are reports that it was used on Nazis in an attempt to create a super-soldier, but the actual reasons for developing the drug were for more beneficent purposes.  They could help people, especially the elderly and infirm, to increase their protein intake and the body’s natural production of amino acids.  It was also suspected that they could also help the body’s defenses in cancer patients, and contribute to natural healing processes in patients with other ailments.  A U.S. doctor by the name of John Ziegler would take these findings and work to develop the drug for use specifically by athletes to increase muscle mass and athletic performance, which he later considered to be a very dark chapter in his life.

Many people know the physical effects of anabolic steroids on the human body.  These synthetic versions of the male hormone testosterone, sometimes used illegally in order to build stronger, more powerful muscles, have a whole host of terrible side effects.  Just a few of them include tendon ruptures, enlarged hearts, heart attacks, liver cancer, balding, yellowing skin (jaundice).  That’s bad enough, but there can even be a greater cost to what these substances might do to your mind.

Anabolic steroids affect the limbic system in the brain.  This part of the brain influences mood, as well as memory and the ability to learn.  When doctors use steroids legitimately as a therapy for a number of conditions, they’re usually using a small dose.  When steroids are used to enhance performance and power, the dose is increased dramatically.  The normal dose range in regular use might be fifty to a hundred milligrams per week, while illicit use of the drug might see a thousand milligrams a week or more, producing much different effects.  While many abusers of steroids claim they feel good while on the drugs, research has shown that radical mood swings may occur, causing manic-like and aggressive symptoms, sometimes ending in violent acts.  There are changes in mood and in depression.  Users may be subject to paranoia, to delusions, as well as judgement that’s impaired due to feelings that you’re invincible.  While that feeling might seem nice at first, it can lead to very destructive behavior.  At these high doses, steroids can make a person extremely aggressive.  Animal researchers have shown that the neurochemicals controlling stimulation and inhibition of aggression are affected, essentially increasing the desire for aggression while simultaneously removing the inhibitions that would keep a user from acting out violently.

Just a casual look at the research should let anyone know that the effects of anabolic steroids may have severe and, in a few cases, life-threatening consequences, not only on the body, but also on the only organ that allows us to perceive the world around us: The human brain.

If so many athletes appear to take anabolic steroids in order to build their muscles and become stronger, why are steroids so bad for you?  The truth is that any short-cut to building your body has its dangers, and steroids are certainly no exception to that.  Even when used properly, prescribed by doctors for medical conditions, there are many different common side effects.  If you’ve contemplated using them, or if you’re using them now, you may need to stop and check out the facts about where the unprescribed use of these substances may lead.

Anabolic steroids are an artificial form of the male hormone testosterone.  They’re used to treat delays of puberty, to treat atrophied muscles in people with immune deficiency diseases, and for the loss of testicular function.  It’s illegal for the drug to be prescribed to help someone create a better performance athletically.  In addition to the legal problems you might face, including five years in prison and a 250,000 dollar fine, there’s the possibility of side effects that are at best unpleasant and at worse life threatening.  For both men and women, these effects include, but certainly aren’t limited to, the following: jaundice (yellowing skin), going bald, tendon ruptures, heart attacks, creating an enlarged heart, liver disease and liver cancer, high levels of the “bad” cholesterol, mood swings, and delusions.  In addition, men may develop breasts, shrink their testicles, develop impotency and infertility, among several others.  Women may face irregularities in menstrual cycles and excessive hair on the chin and face.  Teenagers may find their bone growth arrested, and therefore maintain a shortened height; girls might create a condition of long-term masculinized features.

These are only a part of the reasons why the illegal use of steroids are bad.  Some athletes may use steroids because, for some people, it does have the desired effect, making them more powerful and more muscular, but at a great cost; athletes who have used it in the past now face not only health problems, but disgrace among their peers and their fans.  Even in this quick look at steroid use, it’s apparent that it’s a choice not worth making.

It took a while for anabolic steroids to become a controlled substance by law but it has always been illegal to sell them on the black market. Everyone involved with buying, selling or moving anabolic steroids could get penalized if caught. These consequences were present even before they were classified as a controlled substance with the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988. Anabolic steroids started to show up in larger use in the mid 1980s. This is what prompted law enforcement to take notice of the seeming epidemic. It became a favorite with many high school athletes. The FDA, DEA and the Medical field were against adding steroids to the controlled substance list because they didn’t see them as being addictive. Congress still felt that steroid use was dangerous.

In November 1990 the Anabolic Steroids Control Act became law. With the signing of the Omnibus Crime Control Bill by President Bush. It put steroids in with Schedule III class drugs such as amphetamines, methampetamines, opium and morphine. So one can look at the Schedule III laws and know that it applies to steroids. If one is simple caught possessing the drug than they can get put in prison for one year and/or at a minimum have a 1000.00 fine. If caught again could get up two years prison sentence and 2500.00 fine. Third time with a Schedule III drug in possession can get one 3 years in prison and 5000.00 fine. It is an even bigger problem if one is caught selling steroids or possessing them with an intent to sell them. One stands to get 5 years in prison with 2 year parole and/or a 250,000.00 fine. IF caught twice one is looking at up to 10 years prison time and 4 years parole with possibility of increased fines.