According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine, anabolic and androgenic steroids are synthetic substances that mirror the effect of the natural male hormone testosterone. This causes users that take these substances to gain muscle mass, help recover from fatigue, and gain strength quickly. Additionally, androgenic substances promote the growth of body/facial hair. Although there is some debate, researchers believe that the greatest benefit of steroids is its effect on the central nervous system that promotes aggression and competitiveness in training and competition.

U Sports currently forces Canadian universities to host seminars on doping annually for athletic teams, but it raises the question if these seminars are truly enough to stop athletes from cheating and using steroids. Though it might not seem like a big deal, athletes who win scholarships and use funding by cheating are taking away opportunities from clean athletes.

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So are there any UBC athletes on the juice? In a university of over 10,000 students, we might expect that some of our athletes are getting some extra help. Not that long ago in 2010, the University of Waterloo put their football season on hold because athletes tested positive for steroids. In 2008/2009, Canada Interuniversity Sports (CIS) only drug tested 300-450 university athletes, which raises the question if more should be done. What some people might not realize is that there can be serious consequences for using steroids. In the short term, the benefits can be unbelievable, in fact, they can be outright impressive, but the long term effects can lead to some detrimental health consequences.

Steroids have a list of horrible consequences. Kidney failure, heart disease, cancer and acne are just a few. The bottom line is that using steroids increases the risk of health complications and it's also cheating. For more general information check out this link.