patterns called cycling. Cycling involves taking multiple doses of steroids over a specific period of time, stopping for a period, and starting again. In addition, users frequently combine several different types of steroids to maximize their effectiveness while minimizing negative effects, a process known as stacking (NIDA July/August 1997). A lot of people associate steroids with body builders. I made the same assumption that is until I researched this paper. In the 18-34 age group, about 1 percent had ever used steroids, for ages 35 and older, that figure went down to .2 percent. More men than women had used the drugs: 0.9 percent of men and 0.2 percent of women said they had ever taken steroids. NIDAs Monitoring the Future study has tracked anabolic steroid use among middle school and high school students in the United States since 1989. From 1989 to 1996, there was a slight, gradual decline in the number of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders who had ever used steroids or uses them in the past year. In 1996, 1.8 percent to 2.4 percent of these students had ever use steroids, and 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent had used them in the last year (NIDA September 1997). Under Federal law it is illegal to possess or distribute anabolic steroids of any sort. So who are these people getting this illegal drug from. Anabolic Steroids are manufactured legally or illegally outside the United States and smuggled in, usually through the mail; manufactured legally and diverted to the black market; or manufactured illegally in the United States. Many substances sold as anabolic steroids are diluted, contaminated, or simply fake (NIDA July/August 1997). Athletes, as well as some coaches, trainers, and physicians, report significant increases in muscle mass, strength, and endurance form steroid use, according to a 1991 NIDA Research Report. In acknowledgement of these effects, the International Olympic Committee has placed 20 anabolic steroids and rel...