The+Brownies

__NIDA InfoFacts: Steroids (Anabolic-Androgenic)__. 26 Jun. 2008 National Institutes of Health (NIH). 19 Nov. 2008 <http://www.nida.nih.gov/Infofacts/Steroids.html


 * AAS are anabolic-androgenic steroids
 * AAS are manufactured to relate to testosterone
 * Anabolic refers to muscle-building
 * Androgenic refers to increased male sexual characteristics
 * Steroids are the class of drugs
 * Steroids can be used legally for delayed puberty
 * Steroids can also be used for other diseases that result in loss of lean muscle mass
 * Anyone can abuse AAS to increase physical appearence and performance
 * AAS are taken orally or injected
 * Steroids are taken in cycles of weeks or months
 * Users often combine several different types of steroids, a practice referred to as stacking
 * AAS in the brain can affect gene expression
 * AAS can effect mood and behavior
 * Many users are feeling good about themselves while on steroids, but extreme mood swings also occur, including symptoms that lead to violence
 * AAS can cause depression which could lead to suicide
 * Steroid users may also encounter other drugs like heroin
 * Health problems for men taking AAS are shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer
 * Health problems for women taking AAS are growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice
 * Health problems for adolescents taking AAS are stunted growth due to premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes; adolescents risk not reaching their expected height if they take AAS before the typical adolescent growth spurt
 * People taking AAS have more of a chance of getting AIDS or hepititis
 * There has been very little research on treatment for AAS abuse
 * Current knowledge derives largely from the experiences of a small number of physicians who have worked with patients undergoing steroid withdrawal
 * Therapy seems to work with most AAS abusers
 * Medication can be used sometimes to restore hormone level



__Anabolic steroids__. 6 Sep. 2008 ESPN. 20 Nov. 2008 http://espn.go.com/special/s/drugsandsports/steroids.html.
 * Use of AAS is illegal and banned by most major sports organizations
 * Some athletes still take them, believing that these substances provide a competitive advantage
 * Use of anabolic steroids are escalating
 * The hormone's anabolic effect helps the body retain dietary protein, which aids in the development of muscles
 * The anabolic property of steroids lures athletes
 * Those that are injected are broken down into additional categories, very long-lasting and those that last a shorter time
 * Oral form of AAS were discovered to be especially worrisome for the liver
 * Anabolic steroids are designed to mimic the bodybuilding traits of testosterone
 * Females also produce testosterone but in minute amounts
 * Athletes may use up to hundreds of milligrams a day
 * Anabolic steroids do not improve agility, skill or cardiovascular capacity
 * Their dangers may not be manifest for years
 * Long after you give AAS up you may develop side effects
 * Although AAS are derived from a male sex hormone, men who take them may actually experience a "feminization" effect
 * On the other hand, women often experience a "masculinization" effect from AAS
 * Continued use of anabolic steroids would lead to
 * Acne
 * Bloated appearance
 * Rapid weight gain
 * Clotting disorders
 * Liver damage
 * Premature heart attacks and strokes
 * Elevated cholesterol levels
 * Weakened tendons


 * Steroids close the growth centers in a kid's bones
 * Once these growth plates are closed, they cannot reopen so adolescents may end up shorter than they should be
 * Users can be depressed one minute and be envulnerable the next
 * The note above is commonly known as roid rage
 * Steroids are like a drug, when you stop taking them you get sick then when you go back to them you feel good again

Anthony, Roberts. __Steroids in Sports__. Steroid.com. 21 Nov. 2008 .


 * Story of steroid use in sports began just before the World Weightlifting Championships of 1954, the Soviet Union confessed about taking testosterone injections
 * Some unconfirmed sources say Germany used AAS in 1936 at the Berlin olympics
 * In the original olympics athletes were known taking herbs to increase anabolic performance
 * People tried anything to increase performance back in the day, because the olympics were all they lived for
 * In 1956 Dr. Ziegler and the Ciba pharmaceutical company made a steroid called "Methandrostenolone" or Dianabol
 * "Methandrostenolone" or dianabol was the first anabolic steroid that wasn´t testosterone
 * Since 1956 many steroids have been developed, each one with their own set of characteristics
 * By the late 1960´s the East Germans had also entered the fray and were giving steroids to their athletes as part of a state sponsored program to bolster national pride by winning Olympic Gold Medals
 * Dianabol was quickly made available to anyone looking for an extra edge
 * Steroids helped many bodybuilders, weightlifters, football players, and Olympic athletes train harder, longer, and more efficiently
 * Steroids enhanced protein synthesis and allowed new muscle to be built at a rate that was much more rapid than would otherwise be possible. And that increased muscle power and strength translated into financial rewards for the athletes who were taking them
 * If you were an athlete looking to take your career farther, Dianabol could be a part of your diet
 * Athletes all over the world wanted to know where to get them and how to use them
 * In 1968 there was an official complaint about steroids made by the World Health Organization
 * Steroids were being over produced by the major pharmaceutical firms, and were subsequently shipped to certain third world countries, where doctors would receive a kickback for prescribing large amounts of them
 * Kenya and Jamaica were where this was happening, and they did well at the olympics that year (surprisingly)
 * At this time, there were no documented reports of athletes using steroids in sports other than Olympic competition
 * At this time, a ban on Anabolic steroids was issued by the International Olympic Council
 * By the 1990's AAS have been found in high school level sports
 * Steroids were tought in high school in the mid 80's
 * The MLB was the last major sports league to issue a drug policy ban
 * This all started with a bottle of a nutritional supplement seen in Mark McGwire´s locker
 * At this time, McGwire was en route to breaking a home-run record that had been standing for decades
 * A estimated roughly fifty percent of the players in the league were using them also
 * Jose Canseco, in a book published during the height of the steroids in baseball media coverage, estimated that 85% of all players in MLB used steroids, and also admitted using them
 * Steroid policy in football and the NFL as we know it began in 1987
 * With regards to football, it would seem that current educational efforts are not working well
 * The most famous story of steroid use in the NFL is that of Lyle Alzado
 * Seven years after having a successful career in the NFL, in 1992, Alzado died from brain lymphoma
 * He was 43 that year, but in the years preceding it, Alzado became an often used symbol of the dangers of steroid abuse
 * There is absolutely no medical link between steroids and brain lymphoma, and there is absolutely no reason for Alzado to believe his condition was related to steroid use
 * Bill Romanowski wrote a book, in which he admits that Victor Conte introduced him to several performance enhancing compounds, notably anabolic steroids
 * Bill Romanowski was a great linebacker
 * As long as there is prestige and money to be earned from playing football, there will be steroids in it
 * Ben Johnson broke the world sprinting record in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, he tested positive for Winstrol (Stanozolol)
 * Ben Johnson denies this because he says he used it 28 days before the race, which you are allowed to do
 * So the test remains very suspect, although Ben Johnson was suspended and stripped of his Olympic Gold medal. He probably suffered the worst fate of all the people who have been caught using steroids either at the Olympics or otherwise
 * Although some athletes still compete for the love of the game, prestige often accompanies success. And today, just as two millennia ago, athletes often find the opportunity to compete for both prestige as well as money
 * And that is why they sought out performance enhancers in the ancient Olympic Games, and that´s why athletes are using steroids in sports today

Rebecca, Shore. __How we got here__. March 11, 2008 Sports illustrated. December 7, 2008 .


 * **1886** Twenty-four-year-old Welsh cyclist **Arthur Linton** dies during a race from Bordeaux to Paris; he is believed to have taken trimethyl, a stimulant
 * **1889** French physician **Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard**, 72, extracts testicular fluid from dogs and guinea pigs and injects it into himself. He claims to feel years younger with renewed energy
 * **1935** German scientists develop anabolic steroids as a way to treat hypogonadism -- testosterone deficiency. Butenandt would later win the Nobel Prize for his cumulative findings in sex hormones
 * **1940-45** Nazis test anabolic steroids on prisoners, Gestapos and **Hitler** himself. Testosterone and its analogs are used by German soldiers to promote aggressiveness and physical strength. Hitler's mental state toward the end of his life exhibits characteristics that some scientists associate with heavy steroid use
 * **1945-47** Anabolic steroids are used to help reverse the wasting effects of war and concentration-camp imprisonment
 * **1954** As the U.S.S.R. begins to dominate the sport of powerlifting, a Soviet team doctor allegedly reveals his team's use of testosterone injections to U.S. weightlifting doctor **John Ziegler**
 * **1958** Ziegler's anabolic steroid -- methandrostenolone -- is released by Ciba Pharmaceuticals under the name Dianabol
 * **1960** //Sports Illustrated// publishes //Our Drug-Happy Athletes// by **George Walsh**, exposing the use of amphetamines ("pep pills"), tranquilizers, cocaine and other drugs in elite sports
 * **1969** //Sports Illustrated// produces a three-part investigation about performance-enhancing drugs in sports
 * **1975** The International Olympic Committee adds anabolic steroids to its list of banned substances
 * **1983** The governing body of the Pan Am Games in Caracas strips Chicago weightlifter **Jeff Michels** of three gold medals, and three other Latin American weightlifters of theirs, when they test positive for anabolic steroids
 * **1988** The high-profile rivalry between sprinters **Carl Lewis** and **Ben Johnson** comes to a head when Johnson posts a record-smashing time of 9.79 seconds. Johnson's time is deleted from record books and his gold medal stripped after the anabolic steroid Stanozol is detected in his urine sample
 * **1991** Twenty former East German coaches admit to administering anabolic steroids to some of their swimmers
 * **1990** The Anabolic Steroids Control Act is introduced by Congress. for which trafficking is now a felony, not a misdemeanor
 * **992** NFL defensive end **Lyle Alzado** dies of brain cancer on May 14. The 43-year-old two-time All-Pro believed his disease was the result of more than two decades of steroid and HGH
 * **1999** The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an independent agency, is formed through the IOC
 * **2000** Urinalysis tests are improved to detect EPO, but blood doping -- the injection of one's own red blood cells -- remains undetectable. Potential risks of blood doping include blood clots, strokes and thromboses
 * **2005** Former NFL linebacker **Bill Romanowski** admits to using steroids obtained through Conte