The anabolic-androgenic steroids have been used since the early 1950s for medicinal purposes and to enhance athletic performance. The incidence of non-medicinal use has been found to be increased considerably in recent years. This is followed by a strikingly increased frequency of their use among adolescents & high school student groups in particular.



A 2001 CDC survey indicated that 5% of all high school students reported lifetime use of steroid without a doctor’s prescription. The survey also indicated that 5.8% of ninth graders, 4.9% of tenth graders, 4.3% of eleventh graders, and 4.3% of twelfth graders reported lifetime illegal use of steroids. It has been estimated that at least 700,000 high school students use anabolic steroids and that at least two third of them begin use by 16 years of age.

Many users also engage in a practice known as "stacking"; that is, using several steroids at once. There have been reports of addictive behavior and habituation among both adult and adolescent steroid users, as well as reports of affective and psychotic symptoms, often characterized by impulsive, aggressive and violent behavior.

Adolescent steroid users appear to be at special risk for many of the adverse psychological and physical consequences of steroid use and most of them strongly believe that steroids produce the physical effects they desire, and have no plans to stop using steroids. It has also been reported that many adolescent users are either unaware or unconvinced of negative effects of steroids, physical and psychological effects.

The growing evidence of habituation among adolescent steroid users, and the powerfully reinforcing properties of the drugs, presents a very disturbing trend in our young society. Such alarming teenage steroid use forces us to stop and think about our own kids. Why do so many young people continue to use them? There can be many answers:

•One answer is social pressures. Many young men, for various reasons, start feeling that they need to look "masculine," that is, strong and muscular and they fall easily for these so called “body-toners".

•There is more pressure to win and perform in sports today than ever before in history. Some student athletes feel so pressured to succeed in their respective sports that they resort to steroids for help.

•Easy accessibility is also a major reason for the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs among youth today. Just a click over Google will display thousands of vendors selling “booster" doses and thus procuring such steroids is never a major hassle!

Need for Steroid Testing:

In such a situation, the need for steroid testing at various levels arise manifolds for many reasons. You wouldn’t want yourself or your kids to fall prey to enormous side effects of such potentially devastating drugs. There are various standard and easy-to-use steroid testing procedures including ultra-sensitive “one-drop" kits which use very little blood and urine samples for detection of steroidal metabolites