Most prevention efforts in the United States today focus on athletes involved with the Olympics and professional sports... Few school districts test their student athletes for the abuse of illicit drugs. It has been estimated that about 9 % of secondary schools conduct some sort of drug testing program and that less than 4% of the nation’s high schools test their athletes for steroids.
Research on steroid education programs has shown that simply teaching students about steroid’s adverse effects does not convince adolescents that they can be adversely affected. Nor does the instruction discourage young people from taking steroids in the future. Presenting both the risks and benefits of anabolic steroid use is more effective in convincing adolescents about steroid’s negative effects, apparently because students find a balanced approach more credible according to research findings.
A more sophisticated approach has shown promise for preventing steroid abuse among players on a high school sport team. The Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS) program is showing high school football players that they do not need steroids to build powerful muscles and improve athletic function. With a combination of education with nutrition and weight-training alternatives, the ATLAS program has increased healthy behaviors in the student athletes involved.
The Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives (ATHENA) program was patterned on the ATLAS program, but it was designed for adolescent girls on sports teams. Early testing of girls enrolled in the ATHENA program showed significant decreases in risky behaviors.
Both Congress and SAMHSA have endorsed ATLAS and ATHENA as model prevention programs.
