Steroids, Athletes, and.....Nogales?

Former MLB steroid distributor and self-proclaimed expert Jose Canseco was detained and questioned at the San Diego border by Customs Thursday, October 9, for trying to bring human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) into the US. He was released after 9 hours of questioning and agreeing to let law enforcement search his home.

This got me thinking about steroids in sports and the youth of today using steroids to improve their performance. It's a huge problem in athletics today, and often athletes of all ages and levels ignore the experts and try the stuff in their efforts to get bigger, faster, and stronger.

Jonathon Vorves is an example of such a case leading to tragic results. ABC 15, a Pheonix ABC affiliate, reported Jonathan Vorves, was "constantly taking pills and shooting steroids."
He eventually died.

At the scene of his death his "family found more than a half dozen empty bottles of hydrocone and other powerful pain medication."

Vorves is an example of athletes using these body altering chemicals to obtain their athletic goals quick and easy.

The problem is that student athletes can obtain these medications by going across the border into Nogales and bring them back into the country.

315 steroid seizures have been recorded at the Nogales border since the year 2000. Customs and Border protection describe their principle interest as being anti-terrorism. 15,000 pedestrians cross each day in from Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry.

These stats demonstrate how easy it is to obtain steroids for a teenage athlete interested in gaining those illusive 20 pounds for football or baseball.

The New York Times even reports that "as tourists cross the border from San Diego, they are likely to be given fliers urging the aspiring Olympian or All-America athlete to stop by the nearest pharmacy and choose from what is advertised as ''Steroids: Largest Selection Anywhere, at Wholesale Prices!''"

Scary thought that a teenage baseball player might see that and think, "Hey, why not try it."

The Mexican General Health Code does prohibit over-the-counter sale of restricted drugs such as steroids but according to many sources from the New York Times to Boston.com, enforcement is usually not stringent, with a Boston.com headline on buying Mexican steroids reading, "Border shopping for steroids fast and easy."

At High School Game Time, a website catering to high school sports in southern Arizona, Brian Baltosiewich wrote a special article warning about the risks of steroids.

"It's in the college ranks, and yes, in the high schools as well," Baltosiewich reports, "I, for one, don't understand. Knowing what we do about these drugs, how dangerous they are in the long run- how anyone would knowingly inject themselves so they can hit a baseball another 50 feet."

He's right.

He goes on to link to a site listing all the famous professional wrestlers who died young (a surprisingly long and tragic list) and describe how these chemicals cheat yourself and the game you choose to compete in.

I personally know someone who used steroids and eventually his kidney and liver function changed permanently only after a year of using the steroids. This shows how scary these chemicals are, hopefully the message gets out to athletes not to do this stuff.