Youth and Steroids -- a Deadly Combination

April 10, 2007 — -- When Jason was first introduced to anabolic steroids as a freshman in high school, he was prepared to do anything to make the football team.

"I was training hard for the football team when I realized I weighed much less than my teammates," he said. "That semester I learned about 'S-Parties.'"

During these parties, Jason says, whose real name is being withheld at his request, guys on the team got together and took turns injecting each other in the backside with steroids.

The drugs made them stronger, more athletic, but they also came with chilling side effects.

"We all experienced the effects of the steroids: acne, bloating, insomnia, mood swings," he said. "Once in a while someone would hit the sciatic nerve and their legs would give out."

Steroid abuse led Jason and his friends to experiment further with an assortment of other drugs, both legal and illicit, to boost their athletic performance.

"Most guys would stack different drugs together for the most effect, either trying to gain or lose massive amounts of weight, depending on the time of year," he said. "We began to add other drugs to prevent the side effects. Some of the guys even started using cocaine to get charged up before games."

One morning, Jason awoke with a fever and an electric pain in his left leg. He went to the emergency department of a nearby hospital, where a doctor told him that he would need surgery to remove an abscess that had formed where he was injected with a dirty needle.

The surgeon was able to remove the dead tissue from Jason's leg, but he developed a life-threatening infection that required a long hospital stay.

"It took six months of rehabilitation to walk again, and I had to quit football," he said.

Considering Jason's ordeal, many may not realize that Jason is one of the lucky ones when it comes to youths who use anabolic steroids.

Anabolic steroids are a group of laboratory-made drugs designed to mimic the effects of the male hormone testosterone. These drugs cause muscle and bone growth, as well as the development of male sexual characteristics.