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Countywide : Group to Help Fight Teen Steroid Use

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A program aimed at fighting steroid use among teen-agers will be launched by Optimist International in the United States and Canada, the organization announced Tuesday at its convention in Anaheim.

The project seeks to raise money to sponsor speakers such as Michael Gray, director of a coaches’ association, who advises teen-agers on the dangers of steroids and gives them alternatives for muscle and strength building.

A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that an estimated 262,000 teen-agers have experimented with steroids, Optimist spokesman James E. Braibish said.

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The dangers of steroid abuse were widely publicized when former L.A. Raiders football player Lyle Alzado attributed his fatal illness to steroids, Braibish said.

“We want the teen-agers to become aware there are nutritional ways of gaining strength,” Braibish said.

The 170,000-member nonprofit organization has more than 4,300 clubs throughout the world, including Jamaica, the Bahamas and Hungary, and plans to develop a training program and classroom curriculum on strength and conditioning for teen-age athletes in each of these areas.

“Our short-term goal is to get 500 to 1,000 of these clubs involved,” Braibish said. “We want to reach at least 1 million teen-agers by the second year.”

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