Summit Over Steroids a Sign of Trouble

Summits are convened when urgent action is needed, such as negotiating a Middle East peace pact or coming up with a plan for economic revival.

So what should people conclude about the CIF/DEA Steroids and Athletic Stimulants Summit held Tuesday at a Los Angeles airport hotel?

The message was clear: Influential adults in government, medicine, law enforcement, education and athletics are convinced that anabolic steroids and dietary supplements have become a serious health threat to high school athletes.

The invited guests, mostly school administrators, received their marching orders to spread the word to teachers, coaches and parents.

Now comes the hard part: convincing teenagers that they are putting their lives in jeopardy.

It’s no easy sell. Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs, then a major league record, while taking the since-banned muscle-building supplement androstenedione in 1998.

Doctors say steroids work. They help athletes run faster, jump higher and build muscle mass when combined with a vigorous exercise program. But at what cost?

Dr. Don Catlin, the director of the UCLA Olympic Drug Testing Lab, points out, “For every external change, there’s an internal change.”

Steroids can lead to severe consequences, including heart attacks, liver disease, ruptured tendons, depression, acne and enlarged breasts for males.

But teenagers aren’t necessarily frightened by the threat of problems. They want immediate gratification, and performance-enhancing drugs and dietary supplements are viewed by some as acceptable shortcuts to athletic success.

Doctors, politicians, law enforcement officials and educators have become increasingly concerned because surveys indicate steroid use is growing among high school students. A U.S. government survey in 2003 put the number at 3.1% nationwide, with an estimated 20,315 in California.

President Bush discussed the dangers of steroids in his State of the Union address in January. The nation’s deputy drug czar, Scott Burns, said Tuesday that “steroid abuse is going up and the perceived risk is going down.”

State Sen. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough) asked, “Why is it we wait until we have a sports star die before we act?”

A bill that Speier proposed to require high school coaches to be knowledgeable about the dangers of steroids and to establish a list of banned substances was vetoed last week by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said in his veto message that such regulation was best left to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Speier recommended that the California Interscholastic Federation adopt the measure on its own.

If the CIF wants to get serious, it could start random drug testing of athletes at state championship events, just as the NCAA does.

And law enforcement could help reduce steroid availability in Southern California by cracking down on the more than 1,500 pharmacies in Tijuana, known as the “Roid Corridor.”

“We are now focused on steroid trafficking and abuse as never before,” said Michele Leonhart, deputy administrator with the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The summit was unusual in that so many adults from different backgrounds came together to present a united call for action.

Everyone seemed to agree that education is the critical component to reaching teenagers.

That puts the onus on the most influential person in a high school athlete’s life: his coach. If coaches aren’t advising teenagers about the dangers of steroids and dietary supplements, then they have failed miserably in their most important teaching responsibility: to prepare students for adulthood.

Coaches are the ones who can reverse the trend with a certain, unwavering message: Steroids are for cheaters; steroids will do more harm than good.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.