What can be done to prevent steroid abuse? |
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Early attempts to prevent Steroid abuse concentrated on Drug testing and on
educating students about the drugs' adverse effects.  A few school districts
test for abuse of illicit drugs, including steroids, and studies are currently
under way to determine whether such testing reduces Drug abuse.
Research on steroid educational programs has shown that simply teaching
students about steroids' adverse effects does not convince adolescents that
they personally can be adversely affected. Nor does such instruction discourage
young people from taking steroids in the future. Presenting both the risks and
benefits of anabolic steroid use is more effective in convincing adolescents
about steroids' negative effects, apparently because the students find a
balanced approach more credible and less biased, according to the researchers.
However, the balanced approach still does not discourage adolescents from
abusing steroids.
A more sophisticated approach has shown promise for preventing steroid abuse
among players on high school sports teams. In the ATLAS program, developed for
male football players, coaches and team leaders discuss the potential effects
of Anabolic steroids and other illicit drugs on immediate sports performance,
and they teach how to refuse offers of drugs. They also discuss how strength
training and proper nutrition can help adolescents build their bodies without
the use of steroids. Later, special trainers teach the players proper
weightlifting techniques. An ongoing series of studies has shown that this
multicomponent, team-centered approach reduces new steroid abuse by 50 percent.
A program designed for adolescent girls on sports teams, patterned after the
program designed for boys, is currently being tested.
| Definitions of Terms Used |
| Anabolic steroids | Any of a group of synthetic steroid hormones used to stimulate muscle and bone growth; sometimes used illicitly byathletes to increase their strength.
| | Drug | Any substance, other than food, that changes the function or structure of the body or mind when ingested. Drugs essentially are poisons. The degree they are taken determines the effect. A small amount acts as a stimulant. A greater amount acts as a sedative. A larger amount acts as a poison and can kill one dead. This is true of any drug. Each has a different amount at which it gives those results.
| | Drug abuse | The use of illegal drugs or the inappropriate use of legal drugs. The repeated use of drugs to produce pleasure, to alleviate stress, or to alter or avoid reality - or all three.
| | Steroid | A drug which increases the development of your muscles, sometimes taken illegally by people taking part in sports competitions.
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| | ©2005 remository.com |
Information Courtesy of National Institute on Drug Abuse
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