High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Anti-Steroid Fight to Get New Muscle
A program aimed at fighting steroid use among teenagers will be launched by Optimist International in the United States and Canada, the organization announced at its recent convention in Anaheim.
The project seeks to raise money to sponsor speakers such as Michael Gray, director of a coaches’ association, who advises young people on the dangers of steroids and tells them about alternatives to build muscle and increase strength.
A study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 262,000 teen-agers have experimented with steroids, Optimist spokesman James E. Braibish said.
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” that there are nutritious ways to gain strength, Braibish said.
The 170,000-member nonprofit organization has more than 4,300 clubs throughout the world. It 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.”
“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.”
--Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980)
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