Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids, yet
the desired effects are so overwhelming that people tend to overlook the
consequences. Steroid users believe taking anabolic steroids will enhance their
performance, strength, size,etc. They regard the use of them as legitimate as any
To begin with, the term "anabolic " means "to build tissue," therefore
anabolic steroids tend to increase constructive metabolic pathways within the
body. Also, anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the natural male
Testosterone was the first steroid developed, a natural occuring hormone in
many plants and animals. The first clinical use of testosterone occured in 1958
when physicians injected it into underweight and ill patients to simualte weight
gain. The first reported use of steroids in a non-medical setting occured during
World War II. Steroids were adminstered by Nazi doctors into German soldiers to
enhance their aggressiveness. The Soviet Union noted the Nazis' use of the drug
and recognized that enhanced aggressiveness, increasing in strength, and size
could be desirable in athletic competition. The Soviets experimented with steroids
in the early 1950's and it is believed that they were used in the 1952 Olympic
The introduction of steroids into the United States is often attributed to the
late Dr. John Ziegler, the team physician for the United States weightlifting team
at the last Vienna World Power lifting championships. A Soviet physician told
Ziegler that some of the members fo the Soviet team were using testosterone as an
aid to enhance their strength. Ziegler was impressed with the results and began
conducting some studies on American lifters. The results were the development
and introduction of the steroid Dianobol, an anabolic steroid with fewer
masculinizing properties than testosterone. Dianobol became well known in ...