Steroids are not just a pro sports issue, By: Matt Schoch

08/1/06

Ever get sick of hearing about Barry Bonds and Floyd Landis?

Think that a "steroid discussion" is something between Karl Ravech and John Kruk on ESPN's Baseball Tonight?

Most do, and I was one of them, until a recent discussion I had with my cousin.

He's 16, plays sports in high school, and is a friend of all the athletes in his Southeastern Michigan public school.

He said at school they are issuing random drug tests to athletes before the season starts to catch steroid abusers.

I laughed at that notion. I played high school sports a little more than five years ago, and my friends and I would've laughed at the notion of "steroid tests."

At that time, a couple of my friends were taking creatine. You recall, that was the hot supplement at that time and still is popular.

It makes your workouts more beneficial to your body, and is actually good for you, according to most medical experts.

But, looking back, I'm more and more convinced those weren't necessarily the reasons my friends took them.

They did it for the same reasons we wore overly baggy pants and listened to our music loud: that's what the stars were doing.

The sporting stars were home-run hitters and football giants. If they were taking creatine, and they seemed to be doing fine, then pour some of that our way.

My cousin didn't think it was so funny that he and his friends would be tested. He was concerned that some of his classmates, who he knows are using, would be caught.

He was serious.

The reality of the situation is that kids are doing it. They are likely logging onto the Internet, ordering it, and doing it in our local high schools.

(I also hear that it's easier to get the drugs in Canada. Well, good for us in the Blue Water Area, there's no easy way for our kids to get to Canada. Wait a minute.)

The Michigan High School Athletic Association understands. They have granted a seminar for four Michigan high schools, including Macomb Lutheran North to set up instructional tutorial for kids to understand the dangers of steroids.

The hope is that other area schools will take these lessons on themselves and pass the word on to their kids.

Here's another reality: Your kid is doing it.

And while you thought you were done with the uncomfortable talks that parents have to have with their adolescent children, maybe there's one more to be had with your young adult.

The steroid discussion. And it's not coming to a neighborhood near you.

It's already here.