STEROIDS

Anabolic Steroids, CSA Schedule III, abuse has become a national concern. These drugs are used illicitly by weight lifters, body builders, long distance runners, cyclists, and others who claim that the drugs give them a competitive advantage and/or improve their physical appearance. Once viewed as a problem associated only with professional athletes, recent reports estimate that five to twelve percent of male high school students and one percent of female students have used anabolic steroids, by the time they were seniors. Concerns over a growing illicit market and prevalence of abuse combined with the possibility of harmful long-term effects of steroid use, led Congress to place anabolic steroids into Schedule III of the Controlled Substance Act.