Students
Bring to Light Steroid Use
by John Byrne and Tobias Smith
The
use of illegal anabolic steroids has been discovered among a small
contingent of players on Oberlins football squad.
A member of the team, who asked to remain anonymous, has admitted
to injecting the illegal steroid Dianabol.
I know I can say at least five people are on illegal steroids,
which would be 10 percent of the squad, he said. A College
employee in the Athletics division said that between six and 10
players have used steroids in the last year.
For a school of this size, at the competitive level were
at, thats a high number, said Dr. Paul Matus, chief
medical officer for Lorain County. Thats double what
I would expect.
A second player, who says he has not taken the drugs, has stated
that team members are using steroids. Some are also purportedly
abusing clenbuterol, a prescription-only fat-burning agent.
Whoever it is needs to come forward because believe me, I
will find out, head football coach Jeff Ramsey said.
I will not have that on our football team, he added.
It sounds like I need to have a team meeting.
He also said he doesnt even think players should be taking
creatine, which is legal.
Other team members, however, refute claims that this is a team problem.
Individual athletes make the decision themselves. An athletes
choice is not reflected on the culture of football but is a reflection
of individual competitiveness, sophomore student senator and
former football player Behrad Mahdi said.
The steroids appear to have made a resurgence with the last two
football seasons. One of the players said steroid use also peaked
in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
This is probably higher than Oberlin had in the mid-1980s,
he said.
Anabolic steroids are testosterone, or testosterone-like drugs,
which augment protein synthesis and result in increased muscle mass.
In a 1999 article published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, the lifetime use for anabolic steroids in American
males was estimated to be 4.9 percent.
One source said that he bought the drugs from another team member.
Another player, however, suggests that the drugs are not widely
available and that the people who obtain the more potent drugs get
them from the East Coast.
The staff member in the athletic department contends that steroid
abuse did not occur prior to the last two classes. Some of
the recruits had brought it here. It followed several of them,
he said.
When asked what percentage of the football team was on illegal steroids,
he said, I would say probably 10-15 percent.
The co-captain of the team, sophomore Adam Polisei, however, does
not believe that team members use steroids.
To my knowledge there is nobody on the team using steroids,
he said. Id think with how close I am to all the players
on the team Id be the first person to know about it.
Were all students first and then athletes. Were
not going to damage our bodies for the rest of our lives in order
to win a few football games, he continued. This is an
academic place. The kids who come here are good students and good
football players. If they come here theyre smart enough to
know the consequences of steroid use.
Assistant football and head lacrosse Coach Robert Oldham also denied
knowledge of steroid use.
The football player who admitted team use, but said he had not personally
taken the drugs, cautioned against indicting Oberlins football
program, saying, A few bad people have ruined things for people
who have come here for the right reasons.
The player who said he injected steroids described the process.
You get syringes and you inject between two and three ccs.
A shot goes in your ass and you eat a lot of protein and thats
basically it, he said.
When I did it my bench [press] went up 50 pounds in a week,
he continued. They do a cycle right before and right after
the season, he continued. Theyll finish a month
before the season starts.
Some steroids can be taken orally, others are injected. Syringes
can be purchased at Discount Drug Mart on Route 58 in Oberlin. Generally,
the pharmacist will ask if the buyer is a diabetic, but no proof
is required in Ohio. Several other states have laws that require
prescriptions for their purchase; Ohio, however, does not.
In Ohio, it used to be if you came in for syringes it required
an I.D., said pharmacist Bill Doane, who works at Drug Mart.
The laws were relaxed probably four years ago....The main
reason was for privacy issues.
Folks that come in can get syringes and use them for steroids
or illegal drugs, he added. I have no way to control
it.
Anabolic steroids, which were developed in the late 1950s, were
made illegal under congressional legislation in 1988. A 1997 experiment
on mice spotlighted in the NCAAs newspaper indicated that
steroid abuse, at levels roughly equivalent to those taken by humans,
can lead to premature death. They have been found to cause cardiovascular
disease and reproductive dysfunction. In addition, they often yield
adverse psychological side effects, including aggression, irritability
and depression.
Steroids have also been linked with a condition called roid
rage, in which a user becomes unduly aggressive.
Roid rage is a phenomenon thats not widely understood,
the College employee said. I would assume it can make someone
prone to do anything that is in the realm of thought, from punching
your best friend because you just felt like doing it, to assaulting
people in physical or sexual ways.
Another team member, however, debunked the notion.
Roid rage is more of a wives tale, he said.
With steroids the downside can be and is oftentimes cataclysmic
and immediate, Dr. Matus said.
When asked if he had seen steroid abuse in Lorain County, Matus
said, Weve had a couple of cases....Theres been
some suspected cardiomyopathy and sudden death.
Cardiomyopathy, one of numerous medical conditions brought on or
complicated by steroids, is a form of heart disease.
I know of one fellow who lives in Oberlin that has cardiomyopathy
caused by steroid use, Matus said.
The rules for the College players is that if they win a playoff
game then theyre tested randomly. So, in order for any of
the players to be tested they have to win a playoff game,
Assistant Coach Oldham said.
Ramsey confirmed this, and that the College doesnt test players.
We dont test because we dont have the resources
or funding to do that, he said.
The Athletics employee also said that he believed 70-80 percent
of the team was on some form of muscle enhancer. Many team members
also use creatine or the over-the-counter steroid androstenedione,
or andro, he said. While not illegal, androstendione
is banned under NCAA regulations.
Androstenedione is the precursor for testosterone, he
said. Its what Mark McGwire took.
As an institution, you need to take a zero tolerance stand,
from the very top of the administration to the assistant football
coaches, Dr. Matus said. The institutional philosophy
has to be very strong, very direct with respect to discouraging
the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs.
I think the NCAC should be testing everyone
at least
once a year, one player said.
This article is part of a joint investigation between the
Review and the Muckraker.
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