Anabolic-androgenic steroids and the adolescent

This article has reviewed some of the hormonal and behavioral maturation that occurs during adolescence, which are characterized by remarkable physical changes and behavioral vulnerability. Risk taking of many varieties is common and drugs (including anabolic-androgenic steroids) form a part of the prevailing culture in many places. These steroids probably are not severe health hazards when taken intermittently and in low to moderate doses. The 17-alkylated derivatives are clearly the more likely to cause hepatotoxicity. Thus, the scare tactics formerly used (severe constitutional side effects) are doomed to failure. The tenuous link between these drugs and objective behavioral and addictive effects must be strengthened before health strategies based on this issue can be validated. Clearly, the lack of scientific information has impeded, if not precluded, the formulation of an effective health education strategy. The most potent deterrent to the use of steroid drugs by athletes must be the moral issue of fair play and maintaining a "level playing field." We strongly support directed research in these areas and hope that the credibility of the scientific community can be regained after its faulted "stop steroid use" campaigns based on the lack of steroid efficacy in bringing about desired results or on their dire consequences have been replaced with credible evidence to refute their use on these and other grounds.