BOOST IN STEROID USE LINKED TO MCGWIRE

Researcher Cites Rate Jump Among Teen Boys

WASHINGTON (AP) - A researcher found that more American boys are using
steroids and linked the increase to revelations that Mark McGwire used
steroids to bulk up his home run-hitting biceps.

At a news conference Friday in which Health and Human Services Secretary
Donna Shalala and Barry McCaffrey, White House drug policy director, sought
to focus on an overall decrease in the use of drugs by America's teens,
much of the attention fell instead on McGwire and his use of the
performance-enhancing drug androstenedione.

Researcher Lloyd Johnston, who has run the federally sponsored annual study
for 25 years, said more boys in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades reported
using steroids, and their attitude about the steroids appears to have
changed to a belief that they are not harmful.

"As many had feared, we think it likely that Mark McGwire's reported use of
androstenedione in the year in which he set a new home run record affected
young boys," Johnston said. "Surely it gave them the idea that it could
make them stronger."

The study also found that the use of most illegal drugs, including
marijuana, cocaine, heroin and inhalants, remained steady and that
cigarette smoking remained stable, with a small decline among eighth-graders.

It also found that more high school students are using the "club drug"
ecstasy.

Among high school seniors, 8 percent reported having tried ecstasy, up from
under 6 percent last year.

Ecstasy, a methamphetamine that increases heart rate and body temperature
to sometimes dangerous levels, often is used at "raves," all-night dances
where young people mix the drug with alcohol, the National Institute on
Drug Abuse says.

McCaffrey and Shalala were reluctant to blame McGwire for the increase in
steroid use by youngsters. They cited a wide array of steroids, including
prescription asthma medications, and said the survey did not analyze types
of steroids the teen-agers were using.

In the year McGwire was using andro during his 70-homer season, sales of
the testosterone booster surged more than 1,000 percent to more than $50
million, industry figures showed.

The drug is permitted in baseball but is banned by the Olympics, the
National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football League and
the men's and women's professional tennis tours.

The survey found that steroid use climbed among eighth- and 10th-graders,
primarily among boys. The study said that in 1999, 2.8 percent of
10th-graders reported having tried steroids at least once, compared with 2
percent in 1998.

The survey, titled "Monitoring the Future," is conducted each year by the
University Michigan and supported by the National Institutes of Health and
HHS. About 45,000 students from 433 secondary schools across the country
were questioned.