DISCUSSING ATHLETIC DRUG ABUSE IN 2009             
by Isobel Kleinman (about Isobel)

The job of a teacher often consists of repeating what is important so that it sinks in, without sounding like a nag, and doing so in a way that permits the audience to understand what is being said and why it is so important. The presenter (teacher) must know the subject, be passionate about it as they communicate, and be savvy enough to start off the discussion with a little humor and a lot of insight so that the audience doesn’t tune out. Though this is my third article in five years on Drug Awareness, I am motivated to help you understand why your students might be tuned out, and what kind of risks they face when they experiment with performance enhancing drugs. I know the frustration felt when anyone we care about loses their way, because what we see as being full of risk and pitfalls they see as being full of promise. Hopefully we can learn enough to approach them with pros and cons of what seems like a good thing, and hopefully the knowledge we impart will make them less willing to go for the temporary benefits because they have become wary of the long term consequences.

First, let’s face it, kids do not want to hear that there is no easy way to succeed. Additionally, they certainly do not think of themselves as vulnerable. A one sided approach of trying to scare them does not work. Sadly, it is no longer how we play the game that counts, and I do not think we will ever get back to the time when play was about fun, fitness, process and friends alone. Now, play is about winning. The payoff is too big for it to be about anything less and kids realize it pretty early. They learn that winning opens up many doors, provides many extras, and comes with personal halos. That is why if we do not acknowledge that drugs might enhance their performance and add to their success, we lose them as an audience before we ever utter a single word of caution. There are just too many incentives for us to think that a message promoting their health will be taken seriously.

But why blame kids for shortsightedness when their role models (and sometimes their coaches) don’t pay attention either. Everyday, another sport hero falls, exposed for his or her use of performance enhancing drugs whether willingly or unknowingly. Stripped of their medals, seeing their records erased and their reputations ruined, some even imprisoned for trying to cover up their drug use and perjuring themselves in the process, they have little left but memories because often their health is compromised by the very drugs that helped get them to the top in the first place. Yes, sharing the everyday news about these heroes is where we should start, and we should exploit the news every chance we have until the stories go away!

Of whom shall we remind our kids? It has been a while since anyone has heard of Marion Jones, the track star who was stripped of her Olympic gold metals and sent to jail for a year after it came out that she was lying about her drug use. The consequences that she suffered were not as severe as it has been for the two in one hundred thousand people between the ages of 12 and 35 who die every year because of sudden cardiac arrest that has been directly linked to performance enhancers. (Goldfrank's Toxicologic Emergencies By Lewis R. Goldfrank, Neal Flomenbaum, Robert S. Hoffman, Mary Ann Howland, Neal A. Lewin, Lewis S. Nelson, p.685). How about the college wrestlers who took creatine believing that as a natural substance it was safe? Their coaches and their teammates failed to realize that creatine exacerbates dehydration, and that together with their efforts to lose weight in order to get into a lower weight classification, they were putting themselves in grave danger. These college athletes, giddy with the positives - building muscle bulk and recovering from maximum exertion faster - and unaware of the negatives suffered from heat stroke and sudden death.

Or, shall we talk about how Barry Bonds has been accused of drug use and hounded by the Feds and the media for years, and how much his legal bill has cost him in time, reputation, and money? Or how about A-Rod’s admission that he was “stupid” and took drugs when he was starting out in the big leagues. Should we consider his success a reality? The same question has dogged Sammy Sosa and Mark McQuire, who admitted using “natural substances” the year that their home run records were simply fantastic. While no one can attribute their being able to contact the ball with performance enhancers, they can insist that the power behind each impact could have been altered by their use of performance enhancers, making their home run records suspect. As a result, two men who would have been shoo-ins for the Baseball Hall of Fame are out in the cold. Of course, we can also go back to the time of the cold war when the thought of athletes winning for their country was so important that their coaches and trainers fed them steroids with or without their knowledge. That practice resulted in horrible long term side effects, and left the athletes with no kind of life.

It took awhile to understand the dangers of steroids and once we did, we thought the side-effects would have scared people off. Perhaps they forgot. Here are some reminders.

THE SIDE EFFECTS OF STEROID USE CAN BE FATAL AND IRREVERSIBLE.

Here are some signs of use:

USING WHAT IS IN THE BODY

When I first heard about creatine, I was asked to research it because high school coaches were suggesting that their football players use it. Creatine, as mentioned before, is known for helping bulk up the body as well as allowing it to recover from intensive workouts faster. Many people believed that this substance could have few to no negative consequences, especially since it is a substance found in the body. Unfortunately, it took a few deaths to learn that even “natural substances” have its dangers.

Athletes continue to seek “natural strategies” to give them a competitive edge. Floyd Landis, the winner of the 2006 Tour de France, was stripped of his medals and banned from the sport for two years because synthetic testosterone was found in his blood. Since then cyclists have begun resorting to blood doping – boosting their red blood cells. Unfortunately, blood doping thickens their blood which can lead to heart disease, stroke, embolism, kidney damage, and jaundice. This usage is so common that cycling officials are trying to uncover easier methods to detect it. Officials plan to use blood profiles to weed out abusers.

The methods discussed are just the tip of the iceberg. Gene doping – modifying one’s own gene structure - is a new thing athletes are lined up to try, this before anyone knows the side effects. When will they learn?

In conclusion, you should scour the news every day, so that you may remain informed about all examples which your student may be aware of, as well as being informed about the new methods which individuals are using to enhance their performance. When something is relevant, find a way to bring it up in class. Expose your kids to both sides of the story and make sure they know that you care about them, not simply following the rules.

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