DRUGS NOW EXTEND TO SCHOOL SPORT

CHILDREN as young as 12 are using natural steroids, mail-order growth
promoters and even asthma puffers to get "an edge" over their schoolmates
at sport.

Clinical and sports psychologist Brad Johnston said yesterday that the
pressure to succeed in sport had forced many school children to misuse
drugs they believed could improve their performance.

Dr Johnston warned many young people no longer considered sport fun and
some even turned to mind-altering drugs and considered suicide if they were
not successful.

"Some kids are so desperate for that source of self-esteem, desperate for
the approval of their parents and peers, that they're prepared to risk
their health, and in essence cheat, in order to get it," Dr Johnston said.

Pharmacy Guild of Queensland president Kos Sclavos said many teenagers
could buy performance-enhancing drugs through advertisements in sporting
magazines and on the Internet.

But Mr Sclavos said the most obvious sign of teenagers seeking an
artificial "edge" over their opponents was the over-use of asthma puffers.

"I've seen it myself kids at football games who are not even asthmatics
using a puffer to increase their performance," he said.

"Ventolin only works if there's a condition there to treat, but if kids are
doing that with something completely visible like puffers I believe we have
a serious situation occurring, with other drugs not used openly in public."

Mr Sclavos said he had been approached more than 20 times by parents who
had intercepted drugs sent to their children from the US and wanting to
know if they were safe.

Mr Sclavos said so-called "natural" steroids, which were available over the
counter in Australia, could cause multiple side-effects in children,
including stunted growth, damage to reproductive organs and reduced sperm
counts.

Dr Johnston said society had reinforced beliefs that it was hard for
school-leavers to get a job, and that being good at sport allowed one to
"get rich quick" very early in life.

Queensland Academy of Sport rugby union coach Damian Hearne said yesterday
there was no doubt players were looking for the means to get an edge over
their competitors.

"In a body-contact sport like rugby, where size and strength are important,
play ers certainly are up-to-date on what's available out there," Mr Hearne
said.

"I've had calls from parents with kids as young as 15 who want to take
things like creatine and HGH (human growth hormone), and obviously my
recommendation is that the small percentile gain these substances claim to
give is not worth it at that age."

Mr Hearne said the QAS squad had been taken out of commercial gyms and into
an environment where the players could be monitored away from the
temptation of illegal and harmful drugs.

Mr Sclavos said parents and coaches needed to be aware of what children
were taking and authorities should restrict access to harmful "natural" drugs.