Pressure is put on people, especially male teenagers, to use steroids for cosmetic use.  The CSA (Controlled Substances Act) defines anabolic steroids as any drug or hormonal substance chemically pharmacologically related to testosterone (other than estrogens, progestins, and corticosteroids), that promotes muscle growth.  Steroid use, however, needs to be stopped because of the dangers to health. [Steriods.  p.1]
     There are many different kinds of illegal steroids on the Black Market, and all of these have very harmful effects.  Those commonly encountered include: Boldenone (Equipoise), Ethesternol (Maxibolin), Fluxoymesterone (Halotestin), Methandriol, Mehtandrostenolone (Dianabol), Methltestosteronem, Nandrolone (Durabolin, Deca-Durabolin), Oxymetholone (Anadrol), Stanozolol (Winstrol), Testosterone, and Trenbolone (Finajet).  Along with that there are lots of more counterfeit products sold as anabolic steroids.  The negative results of these drugs are cardiovascular damage, liver damage, and damage to reproductive organs.  Also, prolonged use may lead to heart disease and other serious disorders.  Finally, there are obviously many various types of steroids which can be lethal to the human body. [Steriods.  p.1]
     Steroids are used for many different reasons, but mainly for cosmetic, athletic, and medical use.  The primary use today is for cosmetic reasons, to improve the user's physical appearance and thus his self-esteem.  It is human nature to look for shortcuts, specially among teenagers who think they have found a shortcut to improve their physical appearance, a quick way to improve their self-esteem.  Adolescence is the dawn of the age of physical comparison.  The teenage boy would much rather be the big, handsome athlete than the straight A student.  Such is his sensibility at this age.  This makes him vulnerable to the use of drugs that could affect his appearance.  Teenage boys and young men use anabolic steroids for many personal and peer-pressure reasons, however, the main reason they use steroids is to make themselves more attractive to females.  This greatly improves their self-esteem, which is an extremely powerful motivator, if not the most powerful of all motivators.  Using steroids for this motive to improve one's self-esteem by improving one's physical appearance is where the true misuse and abuse of these drugs occurs because ultimately steroids won't do this and will quite often do exactly the opposite.  The use of anabolic steroids by non-athletes is far greater than even the extremists have predicted, and we will continue to have a problem controlling the use of steroids as long as people believe steroids will help them improve their self-esteem.  [Sergio Oliveira.  1995.  p.165]
     Furthermore, an actual example of a young man wanting to use steroids to enhance the look of his body is a person named Tommy.  Tommy is twenty-two years old and wants to use steroids in the near future when his natural physic is at its maximum.  He says that he has educated himself on anabolic steroids by reading about them, and is very ready and prepared to use them.  He has talked to a friend who has took hormones and gained thirteen kilograms from 71kg. to 84kg.  Tommy also says this friends self-confidence went up and that he was able to get any girl he wanted, "But the most funny thing...crazy about his body."  Consequently, Tommy only wants to take steroids to improve the look of his body so girls will like him, for this reason, his self-confidence may rise. [Tommy.  1998.  p.1]
    Steroids are also used by athletes to increase their performance in a particular sport.  Some people who are active in sports who have used, or are using the drugs are Hulk Hogan, Ben Johnson, Brian Bosworth, Lee Haney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dorian Yates, and Laura Creavalle.  All of those people are well know throughout the world and have many fans and admirers.  Through the things those people have accomplished steroids have played a main role in helping them reach their destinations. [(Oliveira, Sergio.  1995.  p.166) (Stizman, Michael.  1998.  pp.1-4)]
   Athletes using steroids, such as those listed, will also have a huge affect on young  teenagers using the hormones.  These people are their heroes and they use steroids.  To a teenage boy that is a very clear statement.  The gravity of that relationship far outweighs any potentially negative consequences associated with using steroids.  He is too young to understand or appreciate those consequences anyway.  He knows who his heroes are many years before he can make rational health decisions.  He lives for today and isn't concerned about tomorrow.  He doesn't see his parents, his role models. Concerned about the long-term effects of their drug use.  They may smoke and drink, and they are supposed to be intelligent and rational. [Oliveira, Sergio.  1995.  p.166]
    Teenagers don't see Ben Johnson, Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark McGwire, or Jose Canseco as being sick.  They don't see Professional athletes dying from using steroids, but they do see them as being everything they want to be.  They are the physically elite - big, strong and fast.  They are also popular, successful, attract beautiful women, and make lots of money. Why wouldn't a teenage boy want to use steroids? [(Oliveira, Sergio.  1995.  p.166) (Stizman, Michael.  1998.  pp.1-4)]
    As well, steroids are used therapeutically for many conditions, but in specific, for back pain.  A woman named Sharon had back fusion done with her plates and screws and after two years the fusion has not yet taken.  Sharon is told that steroid injections are one form of treatment that is sometimes effective for back pain, and that they generally work by decreasing inflammation.  She is also told that there are some small risks of the injections, the most important of which is infection in the area of the injection.  Next, she is made aware that steroids are known to cause osteoporosis after long-term use, and since there is a problem with bone fusion in Sharon's case, extra caution will be warranted.  For those reasons, if steroids are observed carefully then I believe they can be very useful for pharmaceutical purposes. [ccfNeuro MD.  1997.  p.1]
     A young teenager at the age of fourteen resorted to taking steroids because he was being violently threatened by people at his school.  A family member had given him anatest, which is a steroid for race horses only, without seeing the label.  He gained forty pounds of muscle in about a month.  He got a GI tract bleed from an overdose which nearly resulted in his death and did result in one month hospitalization.  He also found out that he could have injected poisonous materials in his body as he was using steroids.  This young man learned the hard way about using steroids. [Anabolic Steroids.  1998.  p.1]
     As stated previously the severe consequences of steroids, more accurately in males are as follows: testicals may become sterile, abnormal breast development, stunted growth, premature balding, severe acne, elevated cholesterol levels, and elevated blood pressure.  Physical side effects in females: increased body hair, a deeper voice, smaller breasts, fewer menstrual cycles, stunted growth, severe acne, elevated blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol levels. [Steriods.  p.2]
     Steroid use in one sense is very similar to the use of other cosmetic behaviours.  Men use steroids in much the same way women use cosmetics or other behaviours having a cosmetic effect.  If we don't like the way we look, we do something to change it.  In conclusion, we also do this when there is peer pressure on us to look a certain way.