Experts believe that tainted sports supplements are in the range of 25% to 60%. It is not surprising that there are some professional athletes who can’t accept that they tested positive for a banned substance when in fact they are avoiding any type of steroid. Many professional athletes depend on supplements such as protein shakes and vitamins. However, most of the time, these supplements are tainted with steroids.

Steroid experts were recently invited in Chicago Humanities Festival to discuss the issues on steroids and supplements as well as the developments in the testing methods of sports organizations. Frank Shorter, former Olympian and one of the pillars of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said that most of the supplements they tested contain traces of steroids. “Sixty percent of the creatine we test is laced with the steroid neandrolone,” he said. Though creatine supplements are not that popular anymore but it is still has a significant role in improving the energy levels of an athlete.

According to a sport medicine physician, the use of creatine waned already because of new supplements out in the market. “It’s not young. It’s not new. It’s not hot,” said Dr. Jeff Anderson who is also a professor at the University of Connecticut. He said that at least 25% of sports supplements in the country contain anabolic steroids like testosterone and its analogues. Steroids are used by athletes to help build muscles and aid them in recovery after strenuous training or injuries. But these are already declared as banned substances by most professional sports leagues.

Anderson believes that steroids found in sports supplements are intentionally made. “If you’re looking at it from a business perspective yeah put a lot of (steroid) in, it’s going to work well and people are going to buy your product,” Anderson said in a symposium in Boston. Supplement manufacturers doesn’t care about the welfare of athletes especially the risk for a positive steroid test.

Another problem that health experts see is the lax regulation of the government when it comes to supplement products. Supplements are considered as food products and not as medicines thus manufacturers were able to avoid strict regulation from the federal government. Although the FDA is tasked to monitor and regulate supplements in the market, there are still many companies selling unsafe supplements. Shorter explained this further. “Who is testing creatine to see if it’s pure? The creatine manufacturers themselves are testing their opposition to see if it’s pure. And those are the only people testing it. You can’t promote and police,” said the former Olympian.

So stories of athletes being suspended or banned will continue as long as there are supplements with steroids. Anderson is familiar with this scenario because he also worked in the NCAA. The Medill report also quoted Anderson saying, “One of the reasons you never let somebody off saying ‘I purchased a contaminated supplement‘ is because it’s very easy to lie about. You don’t know if the individual made an honest mistake, or whether athletes ingested something that they’re choosing not to tell you about.” Anderson advice players to be more responsible and be wary of any supplement that they put in their body. Once they were caught, there’s no escape. They will be held responsible.

The use of academic steroids by students has been a long issue in schools around the country. Is it really a wonder drug that helps students perform better in academics? There are critics as well as proponents on the use of this drug by students. Many students claimed benefits from the use of this drug especially during exams where they are required to study for longer hours. Others also claim that it improves their memory and concentration.

What are Academic Steroids?

Academic steroids are not actually a type of steroid. It is a medication intended to treat ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Some of the popular ADHD drugs are Ritalin, Straterra, Dexedrine and Adderall. Though these drugs have been effective in treating the symptoms of the illness, its use in academics as a mind enhancer continue to grow. Another problem seen by health experts is the accessibility of the drug even if it is not used for its medical purpose.

While anabolic steroids are used by student athletes to improve skills in their chosen sports, academics steroids, on the other hand, is taken to improve performance in the class. Many people still consider these two drugs as a form of cheating when used to boost performance. “When I hear people talking about Adderall, I can’t help but feel as though it’s a form of cheating,” said a student of a big university. “I have friends and know of fellow students who won’t use recreational drugs but willingly use Adderall in order to help them study,” she told UWeekly.com.

Adderall became very popular as a study drug. In fact, there are already generic versions of the drug which are now being distributed in schools including products from the underground market. Students who are taking this ADHD drug have said that it has been their ally in passing difficult exams and beat the pressure of studying for longer hours. However, health experts are concerned on the safety of these drugs when taken by students without any medical condition. According to Dr. Denise Deschenes, a psychiatrist at OSU’s Counseling and Consultation Center, the amphetamine content of ADHD drugs stimulate the dopamine in the brains. “It’s this positive and upbeat feeling students may become addicted to,” she said.

The Dangers of Academic Steroids

Abuse of academics steroids can lead to fatal complications. Since it can be addicting, most students would not notice that they are already taking too much of the drug and may neglect negative symptoms. Even on a regular dose, users can experience hallucinations and possible heart attacks. Sudden death is the worst thing that may happen to the user. “The most vulnerable organs to adverse reactions from Adderall are the brain and the heart,” said Dr. Deschenes. The doctor also said that student should understand that the positive effects on others will also happen to them. There is a great risk involved especially when taking the drug without medical supervision.

Other schools in the country have already implemented efforts to curtail the use of academic steroids in schools. The Wesleyan University for example, changed its honor code. Based on the new policy, the unprescribed use of these drugs will constitute a violation of their academic integrity policy. Students who will be caught using academic steroids will be considered cheating.

Academic steroids in Sports

Would you believe that these drugs are also popular in sports? Anabolic steroids are not the only option of players who want to gain competitive advantage. Many major league players were also taking ADHD drugs. With so many players asking for exemptions, do you think that these baseball players are all ADHD victims? Read our article on this Increased Use of ADD drugs in MLB.

Police department heads don’t want their officers to be involved in the distribution or use of anabolic steroids. Most of the time, they end up as losers in their anti-steroid campaign because of their eagerness to catch erring police officers. Immediate sanctions are always given such as suspension or termination from the service. But in most cases, charges on erring officers are either dropped or dismissed in courts because of procedural lapses.

We have already reported in our previous blogs similar cases. Even if the officers were guilty of using steroids, they still have their basic rights that should not be violated. Instead of being punished for their illegal activities, some of them were able to return to service or acquitted by the courts or arbitration councils. This scenario is also happening in Hackensack, New Jersey. An officer who was suspended last year because of testing positive for anabolic steroids was ordered to return to the department. After reviewing the case, city manager Stephen Lo Iacono decided to drop the case against police officer Joseph Al-Ayoubi because of the illegal test conducted on him last year.

In the middle of 2009, several police officers were required to undergo urine tests by the police chief. Al-Ayoubi is one of those who tested positive for anabolic steroids but the officer argued that the department violated his constitutional rights when he was forced to give his urine test. “There were some questions about the test and just for the sake of everybody, including him, we decided to drop the charges,” said the city manager.

Acting police chief Capt. Tomas Padilla welcomed the decision and already told Al-Ayoubi to report to work. “I was consulted and I agree with it. In the interest of justice, I believe it’s the right decision,” said Padilla. There were also other police officers who were able to return to work after they won their case.

A retired police officer who was interviewed by The Record said that the decision of the city manager has been long overdue. “This is going to cost the taxpayers millions, this guy should never have been charged in the first place,” said retired police officer Emil Canestrino. “We’ve been telling the council for months that these charges should be dropped and they should bring back people to work,” he said.

Al-Ayoubi was criminally and administratively charged with illegal steroid use. He was suspended in July 2009 but the criminal charges were already dismissed by the court last year after the prosecution learned that the steroid test was done illegally and unconstitutional. North jersey.com tried to contact Al-Ayoubi’s lawyer for comments regarding the recent decision of the city but he could not be reached.

Meanwhile, a case against a Texas state trooper was declared as a mistrial because of a decision coming from one of the jurors. Judge Rex Emerson declared a mistrial in the case of Jeff Jerman who was charged for selling steroids worth $800 to an undercover Kerrville police officer late last year. After 3 months, the Department of Public Safety decided to terminate him from the service.

A juror said she believes that the officer is already guilty of selling anabolic steroids even before the trial begins. The judge decided to set the next hearing on February 1. The Department of Public Safety Trooper Jeff Jerman was also charged with possession of a controlled substance when his home was raided by the authorities.

The battle against teen steroid use is not yet over. A former pro football player knows that talking and communicating the dangers of steroids to the younger generation will not be an easy task and should be on a continuous basis to be more effective. NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus who heads the “I Play Clean” campaign talked recently in a symposium held at Nebraska with coaches and athletic officials as his audience.

The “I Play Clean” initiative focuses on educating the youth about the dangers of taking steroids and encourage natural ways of improving their skills. The group also encourages coaches and parents to share their part in preventing these young athletes from taking performance enhancing drugs.

Butkus said that a young athlete can still fulfill his dream of becoming a professional athlete even without the help of anabolic steroids or any performance enhancing substances. He himself claimed that in his professional career, steroids were never been part of his daily regimen. Some student athletes are inclined to take steroids in the hopes that it will bring them to professional sports. However, Butkus believes that it is not worth it. “Is it worth risking your health to chase a rainbow that you might make it to the pro level? You may just as well get to that level by training hard, eating right and playing with an attitude,” he said. “I never used steroids, and I seemed to do okay,” Butkus added.

The symposium was attended by at least 150 Nebraska high school coaches and athletic directors of the Nebraska State Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association according to the kearneyhub.com report. The hall of famer emphasized the role of coaches, parents and those at the professional levels to become role models for these young athletes. In his talk with the football team of the University of Nebraska earlier in the day, Butkus said that the players in university sports have a significant part in eradicating the use of steroids in the secondary level. “It’s not me anymore; it’s you. I’m not the athlete. You are. You’re the role models now, especially in this state,” Butkus said.

Butkus told his audience that there are over 85 percent of high school students who have no enough knowledge on anabolic steroids. The statistics is even worst when it comes to the parents. Research also revealed that in every 6 students, 1 of them is taking steroids. “A half-million to a million kids admit it. That might not seem like a big number compared to the totality of all high school athletes, but if you’re a parent and you lose one of those, it’s a pretty big stat,” he said. “Many parents have said to me, ‘If I only knew what the signs were, maybe I could have done something before it was too late.’”

The “I Play Clean” initiative is on its 4th year now and the group is continuing its effort to reach more schools and spread the word about steroids. “I’m not looking for anything more than trying to get people aware of the problem and get the word out. If I can help even one kid, that would be great,” said Butkus.

Butkus has made a name in the NFL and considered as the one of the greatest linebacker of all time. The Chicago Bears retired his jersey and he was elected in the hall in 1979.

The NFL is losing hope in the long running legal battle between the league and Minnesota Vikings Pat and Kevin Williams. This case started in 2008 when the league tried to suspend the two players for a positive test for a banned substance. Though the substance is not a steroid, bumetanide is considered to mask the use of steroids. The players argued that they did not know Starcaps contain the banned diuretic- bumetanide because it was not disclosed in its label.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court denied the request of the football league to review the case of the two players. They argued that the previous ruling of the lower court should be reviewed because of unclear issues specifically the supremacy of federal laws over state laws and the collective bargaining agreement which must prevail in the Starcaps case. Some legal experts already expect this scenario. With over a thousand cases brought to the highest court, only around 100 cases were given the chance to be heard. The nine justices who debated on the merits of the request finally decided to let the lower courts decide on the issue.

Pat and Kevin Williams continue to play because of the temporary injunction. They already played for two seasons and it is expected that they will still complete the remaining portion of the current season. The court of appeals will also hear their request for permanent injunction which is scheduled on Nov. 17.

Peter Ginsberg, lawyer of the 2 Vikings players told the AP that it’s a wonderful victory for Kevin and Pat Williams. “It’s a wonderful victory for employees in every state throughout the country. And hopefully it will make the NFL more sensitive to what state Legislatures decide is important for the safety of their employees,” Ginsberg added.

In another statement, Ginsberg said that the league should now follow the law because even the highest court did not bought their arguments. “There’s no competitive advantage that would make it unfair for players in Minnesota versus other players in the league. The NFL has created an issue that simply doesn’t exist. The U.S. Supreme Court and other (courts) have now said, ‘Goodell follow the law.’ I think the NFL is talking fiction when it says it would have a difficult time making the changes,” he said. However, the NFL told the media that the decision of the Supreme Court did not address in any way the merits of the claims made by the players, which have been rejected by every federal and state court to consider them.

But probably, the league knows that they will have a hard time convincing the courts on their stand. They already asked the help of Senator Byron Dorgan in pushing for a law that will prevent similar cases like of the Williamses. The bill was already forwarded to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation last September. In the proposed bill, “Clean Sports Protection Act” will require every state to accept the doping standards being implemented by all major sports leagues. “The decision underscores the need for Sen. Dorgan’s proposed legislation to ensure uniform and consistent drug policies throughout the country and makes it clear that we cannot expect the courts to resolve every conflict with state law,” the NFL said.

The NFL is hoping that the bill will gain support in the Senate. This will help them avoid future legal problems involving the implementation of their anti-doping policies. “Sen. Dorgan’s ‘Clean Sports Protection Act’ would remove the legal uncertainty created by any single court decision and permit professional sports leagues to consistently apply and enforce their collectively bargained drug testing programs.”

In September, the FBI was rocked by the steroid controversy involving some of its employees and agents. Considered as one of the best law enforcement agency of the government, the illegal use of steroids and human growth hormone of some of its employees could raise some questions on the ability of the agency to perform its duty. If they can’t monitor their own people, what more in performing their duties to the public. This is a concern because based on the charges, one of its employees was using steroids and HGH since 2006 but the agency just discovers it recently.

And now, the latest report of Reuters revealed that the charges may be too weak which prompted the prosecution to ask for the dismissal of the case against the two FBI employees. U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen of the District of Columbia filed a motion for dismissal of the case against FBI agents Matthew and Katia Litton. The couple was charged with giving false statement to the agency. Though the prosecutor ask the court to permit them to refile charges if necessary.

The prosecution declined to comment of their decision to dismiss the case. According to them, there is still an on-going investigation. The lawyers of Mathew and Katia Litton did not give any statement that will at least clarify the recent development in the case.

Two months ago, the agency filed charges against them for not disclosing their use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. The agency alleges that they made false statements by not divulging the use of these drugs during the annual submission of fitness for duty assessment form. Other employees involved were Ali Sawan, an FBI intelligence analyst working in the agency’s counterterrorism division, and James Barnett, a special agent in the Washington Field Office of the FBI.

According to court records, the couple has already spent at least $17,000 on the drugs since 2006. Matthew Litton is a special agent in the FBI’s Critical Incident Response Group while his wife Katia is a special agent in the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Before her admission in the service, Katia was a competitive bodybuilder and joined competitions in 2002.

The charges against the other two employees are still in place. If convicted of the charges, the FBI employees might receive a maximum penalty of 5 years and a fine of up to $250,000. This is aside from the possible termination from the service.

The FBI prohibits the use of performance enhancing drugs by its employees and agents. However, in some cases, these are allowed if they have certain medical conditions that require treatment of HGH and anabolic steroids. Whether they have valid reasons for taking the drug, the mere fact that they did not disclose it to the agency is already a big question of their credibility. People who are tasked to protect the citizens of the country should be loyal and honest to the organization that they are in. Being involved in something illegal is not a good thing to be associated to their name.