Saturday, December 15, 2007

Steroids
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
This dialog is from the Woody Allen movie Sleeper whose plot revolves around a man who awakes 200 years in the future. I thought of the movie because perhaps the elephant in the room that nobody is talking about when it comes to steroids is the question, "Can steroids and HGH be good for you?"

200 years from now will people look back at today's attitudes towards steroids and HGH as ignorant and our persecution of athletes who use performance enhancing drugs as nothing more than witch hunts?

If taken in moderation and under doctor supervision it seems like HGH and steroids could allow people to live healthier more active lives. My guess is that "sports medicine" in the future will have a vastly different meaning than it does today and that performance enhancing drugs will be fairly common. The Mitchell Report does not address any medical aspect to PED's at all. I would have liked, for example, if someone from Mitchell's staff had asked Nick Esasky if steroids played any role in his debilitating vertigo.

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