Perhaps we have come to the point when using steroids to enhance athletic performance should be legalized and regulated.
I know that sounds as crazy as recommending a pardon for Richard Nixon. All I ask is that you follow my reasoning with an open mind.
First of all, it should be established that steroid abuse has been known to destroy lives.
When I was a kid, one of my favorite players was Lyle Alzado. Looking back, he was probably the first well-known steroid user to freely and openly admit that he had played juiced. Alzado was a remarkable physical specimen (6’3”, 260 pounds), and one hellacious football player. Steroids obviously played a part in both of those facts.
Unfortunately, human growth hormone harvested from cadavers killed him. He died of complications from a brain tumor at the ridiculously young age of 43. He had been a steroid abuser since the year I was born, 1969.
I will never forget Alzado's last interviews when he was a shell of himself.
However, we are now beginning to see another side of the steroid story.
After all, just about everyone alive has been given a steroid at some point. If you have ever suffered from any of a myriad maladies that cause hives, swelling, and other fluid retention issues, you were probably prescribed a steroid.
Steroids are used as part of a program to treat breast cancer in women.
Victims of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and assorted respiratory illnesses are given steroids to arrest bronchial inflammation. Decadron? That product is a corticosteroid. Deltasone? Prednisone? The last two drugs are the same product with different names. And they are prescription steroids.
My point is simple: Steroids are not inherently deadly. Just ask Alex Rodriguez. Sorry, I could not help myself.
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