health risk

Juiced: The Frightening Rise of Teen Steroid Use

By Gailon Totheroh
CBN News Science & Medical Reporter

CBN.com – (CBN News) - Taylor Hooton was a high school baseball player who wanted to bulk up. He ended up addicted to steroids. He was struggling to overcome the addiction that summer day, back in 2003.

His mother remembers that morning, how he tried to get out of being grounded by his parents but Gwen Hooton remained firm.

"Because before, he'd be grounded and we'd let him out,” remembered Gwen. “But this time, 'You're going to be grounded.' And he reached over and grabbed my hand [and just held it], and he went upstairs."

His mother went upstairs later that summer morning to check on Taylor’s lunch request. Gwen said she rounded the corner and there he was, hanging on the door.

Despite her CPR and the paramedics’ assistance soon after, Taylor did not make it. Yet his story, and others like it, helped lead the Senate to hold hearings recently. They focused on steroid use in major league baseball.

Former Major League Baseball star Jose Canseco commented, "Because of my fear of future prosecution for probation violations or other unrelated charges, I cannot be totally candid with this committee."

Don Hooton, Taylor’s dad, said, "They look up to these athletes who are flaunting the use of steroids, and what's the punishment? The punishment is being on TV, setting home run records and making millions and millions of dollars."

Dr. Marc Cardelia is a pediatric surgeon and sports medicine physician. He said, "I kind of wince when I hear them say they're not role models."

Steroids are a variety of substances that affect the body, but these are anabolic steroids. Some anabolic steroids and anabolic steroid boosters are taken orally, some are injected. Both increase the male hormone testosterone.

High levels of testosterone enable the body to build muscles incredibly quickly, but at the same time, these illegal drugs can cause stunting of height, cause the body's own testosterone production to drop dangerously low, and can lead to liver damage and distortion of the mind and emotions.

Dr. Cardelia remarked, "They're a lot like other illicit drugs. They're habit forming, and there are signs of withdrawal when they come off, and behavioral changes associated with this."

And who could have guessed Taylor, a good kid, an honor student, a devout Christian, would fall prey to steroids? Taylor, like his older brother, was a fine baseball player, a junior wanting to pitch even better as a senior. Then a coach told him to get bigger.

Don Hooton said, "So you turn a 16-year-old kid loose today with steroids, as easily available as they are, where you've got half, at least a third of his teammates doing steroids -- you've got a formula for disaster."

Dr. Cardelia said, "Teenagers are all about taking risks -- that's part of their make up and they don't necessarily weigh the risk-benefit ratio the way we all would. All they see is that, yes, they work."

Taylor did bulk up, but he was hardly himself – he would blow up over innocent comments, a slave of steroid rage.

Don Hooten commented, "And [you’d] watch him turn red in the face, throw something on the floor, drive his fist into the floor, start cursing at us, and step up and storm out of the room. And we'd look at each other like what did we just say?"

Taylor would apologize, but the rages continued. Unaware of the cause, the Hootons pursued every avenue over the next months to get to the root of the problem. Even a drug test did not pick up Taylor's steroid habit. With professional help, they finally got Taylor to admit his use and commit to stop using.

Still, how could a talented upbeat Christian kid like Taylor end up caught in the web of steroids?

Beyond the steroids themselves, of course, Dr. Cardelia says our society abets the destruction in two ways. By glorifying sports heroes, and by emphasizing looking good, looking cool, as all important. Those false images help encourage kids to seek out steroids.

And, of course, girls are not immune to society's warped enticements. There are more female athletes these days. And thousands of girls take steroids simply to do body shaping.

Don Hooten said, "The girls, rather than wanting to do a lot of sit-ups and get their abdomen all sucked in, are using steroids to get their abdomen in shape."

Dr. Cardelia stated, "It's fairly well established at this point that females are actually the most rapid-rising population for users right now."

Not surprisingly, female abusers of steroids also suffer similar physical and mental ravages. And the problem worsens when coaches give in to the temptation to look the other way when it comes to the star player.

Don Hooton remarked, "We've just got two games left, we'll punish him after the season. No, guys, this is a deadly illegal drug; it is a felony."

Dr. Cardelia says we need to start breaking every link in the chain, from the excessive glamour attached to sports and pop stars, to the need for coaches to emphasize long-term good nutrition over quick chemical fixes.

"All of those things that will help build this naturally, and in a fair, conscientious way when no one's cheating,” said Dr. Cardelia.

Another link is parents. Dr. Cardelia says he sees lots of dads and moms pushing too hard for kids to shine in sports. That can not only encourage teen steroid use, but also result in kids pushing themselves into debilitating injuries, surgery and lifelong joint damage.

Dr. Cardelia says he cannot understand the attitude sometimes. He said, "When I hear parents talking about that -- they have a very high threshold for pain, [or] he plays through it, like, why would you want him to?"

For the Hootons, there is both God's comfort at their loss and a calling to speak out, despite how much it hurts to remember. And the Hootons are not knocking sports. They know its benefits, but ask, what good are they if steroids have the upper hand?

Don Hooten said, "Please, be aware and look for this stuff. Your kid, just like Taylor, is not immune from the pressures they're [under], in high school, and not immune to the pressures to use what has become a terrible and easy shortcut for them -- today's ‘drug de jour’ is steroids.

Gwen added tearfully, "We have God's promise that we'll be together again. We'll be with Taylor -- as family."

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