NCAA Publishes 2006 Study of Substance Use Habits of College Student-Athletes

Every four years or so, the NCAA publishes the results of a survey of college student-athletes about their use of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs. You can see the whole report at the NCAA website. The nearly 20,000 participants in the study were gathered from all sports at all NCAA divisions. Here are some of the main findings in this study: 1.  Amphetamine use is rising. 2.  Steroid use is decreasing slightly. 3.  Use of ephedrine has remained stable. Another interesting finding is that two-thirds of the people using amphetamine, ephedrine, and nutritional supplements and half of the people using steroids began these habits in high school or even earlier. It seems that if we don’t want athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs, education efforts should start before they reach college. Perhaps in recognition of the early start student-athletes have with steroids, New Jersey is the first state to start random testing of high school athletes.  It is important to let athletes know the consequences of using drugs at such an early age– the effects of steriods and other drugs on the body can lead to serious health problems in the future.  The best advice to give to athletes is, just say no. 🙂