TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/013089/01308900.048

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 5.3 KB | 102 lines

                                                                                HEALTH & FITNESS, Page 78

Shortcut to the Rambo Look


97-lb. weaklings no more, teens take steroids to bulk up


    Adolescence can be a trying time -- particularly for the
teenage boy. He is exultantly proud of his newfound sense of
masculinity, but his body, alas, remains an embarrassment. Where
are those flauntable biceps and triceps? Earlier generations of
frustrated youth sought salvation in Charles Atlas'
body-building exercises or strenuous programs of pumping iron.
Many of today's teens, however, are subscribing to an ominously
simpler solution. Explains Dr. Robert Willix Jr. of Fort
Lauderdale: "Before, the 97-lb. weakling on the beach turned to
weight lifting. Now he turns to steroids."

    Until recently, the drugs were considered mainly the bane of
competitive sports and body building. But the alarming fact is
that steroids, which are synthetic male hormones, are
increasingly being abused by teenage boys for cosmetic reasons. A
report last month in the Journal of the American Medical
Association revealed that 6.6% of male high school seniors --
and perhaps as many as 500,000 adolescents nationwide -- have
used steroids. Nearly a third of the students surveyed took the
drugs to acquire that brawny look. Declares "Ian," a 5-ft.
6-in., 115-lb. 17-year-old from Boston, who has been popping
pills for three months: "I'm sick of being small. I want to be
bigger."

    From early childhood, boys learn that the ideal man looks
something like Mr. Universe. "Watch Saturday-morning television,
and you'll see all these huge, abnormally muscled beings on
cartoons and kids' programming," notes Chicago osteopath Bob
Goldman. "Conan and Rambo are the heroes." So are sports stars,
some of whom -- like Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson and Seattle
Seahawk linebacker Brian Bosworth -- are known to have taken the
steroid shortcut. Scrawny youngsters, some only 13, eagerly pay
between $50 and $400 to black-market dealers for a
six-to-13-week cycle of pills and injectables that could turn
them into Hulk Hogans. "It takes years to build up a body like
that," brags "Rick," 17, pointing to drug-clean weight lifters
at a gym outside Los Angeles. "Steroids are quick." Used in
conjunction with training, the drugs stimulate cellular
processes that build muscle.

    But the drug-enhanced physiques are a hazardous bargain.
Steroids can cause temporary acne and balding, upset hormonal
production and damage the heart and kidneys. Doctors suspect
they may contribute to liver cancer and atherosclerosis. Teens,
who are already undergoing physical and psychological stresses,
may run some enhanced risks. The drugs can stunt growth by
accelerating bone maturation. Physicians also speculate that
the chemicals may compromise youngsters' still developing
reproductive systems. Steroid users have experienced a
shrinking of the testicles and impotence. Dr. Richard Dominguez,
a sports specialist in suburban Chicago, starts his lectures to
youths with a surefire attention grabber: "You want to shrink
your balls? Take steroids."

    Just as worrisome is the threat to mental health. Drug users
are prone to moodiness, depression, irritability and what are
known as "roid rages." Ex-user Darren Allen Chamberlain, 26, of
Pasadena, Calif., describes himself as an "easygoing guy" before
picking up steroids at age 16. Then he turned into a teen
Terminator. "I was doing everything from being obnoxious to
getting out of the car and provoking fights at intersections,"
he says. "I couldn't handle any kind of stress. I'd just blow.
You can walk in my parents' house today and see the signs --
holes in doors I stuck my fist through, indentations in walls I
kicked." Chamberlain grew so despondent, he recalls, that he
"held a gun to my head once or twice." Others have succeeded in
committing suicide. Warns Aaron Henry, 22, a St. Charles, Mo.,
drug counselor whose adolescent dependence on steroids drove
him close to physical and mental ruin: "When you put big egos
and big dreams together with steroids, that's a nasty
combination."

    Despite such horror stories, teens deny that the dangers
apply to them. Willix recalls that after one session in which he
warned students to avoid the drugs, two 15-year-olds came up and
said, "We hear what you're saying about steroids, but could you
tell us which ones to use?" Rick of Los Angeles takes 40 mg of
the chemicals daily, but insists, "I'm being careful. I'm taking
what I think a doctor would prescribe." Has he seen one? "I will
when I'm 18."

    Once on the drugs, adolescents find it hard to get off.
"People say, `I'll just take them for three months until I get
the look I want, and then I'll quit,'" explains Adam Frattasio,
26, of Weymouth, Mass., a former user. "It doesn't work that
way." Bulging biceps and ham-hock thighs do a fast fade when
the chemicals are halted. So do the feelings of being powerful
and manly. Almost every user winds up back on the drugs. A
self-image that relies on a steroid-soaked body may be
difficult to change. Chamberlain has a friend, now 29, who has
been taking steroids for more than a dozen years. Says
Chamberlain: "His mind is so warped that he said he doesn't care
if he dies, so long as he looks big in the coffin."