LETTER TO THE EDITOR
This is an actual letter that I just sent in to the Star Ledger newspaper. It is in regards to the series they are doing on officers that take steroids. I am not condoning anything, just as a professional I am sick of misinformation being reported. Enjoy!
Hi Amy, great job with your article. I am a strength coach and feel that the article was taking in only one side of the story. I am not advocating the use of taking steroids, but from someone in the field, I do not like how athletes and such are villified taking something that can infact increase their performance and sense of well being. Steroids often get confused for their moral and ethical use vs. their actual medical side effects. All drugs are based on dose and duration. Wouldn’t we rather have our officers and firemen taking something that is performance enhancing rather than a depressant such as alcohol. What if your house was on fire and you were trapped inside? Wouldn’t you want the officers to be a little faster, bigger and stronger? When the stats are compared to alcohol and tobacco it is rather absurd that steroids take such a large amount of heat. Where are all the bodies from everyone dying from steroid use? Again, compare this to the deaths caused by alcohol and tobacco use. The benefits of a safe dose of testosterone far outweigh the potential side effects. Again, if any drug is abused, you are asking for trouble. Dr. Jay Hoffman from TCNJ is the nation’s leading expert on the side effects and uses and he conclusively states that the media reports are not accurate. It is a hot topic, but one that needs to have the benefits stated as well. If the studies are looked at, ‘roid rage’ is more myth than anything. Dr. Carlon Colker said it best-”Steroids just make you more of what you already are.” If a person is an asshole before taking steroids, they will be an even bigger asshole when they are on. Female birth control never gets any heat, but yet, the drugs act in the same way, manipulating hormones with potentially even more side effects. Catabolic steroids-ie-prednisone and such are much, much harsher on the body than most safe doses of anabolic steroids. Again, I am not trying to attack you, I thought you and your partner did a great job, but I do think the media never presents the argument fairly. A great documentary to watch would be Bigger, Stronger, Faster; many of the top doctor’s are interviewed on the topic. I would be glad to chat more about this, thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Kyle Newell, MS, CSCS, CISSN
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