Bigger Stronger Faster Page #6

voice, menstrual problems

and can enlarge

the clitoris.

And some of these

are not reversible.

And for kids,

some experts think

steroids can stunt growth by

closing growth plates prematurely.

But that's actually

never been proven.

There's also no proof that steroids

cause cancer, kidney failure,

and only oral steroids

in high dosages

can cause

liver problems.

And it's true that steroids

can be one of 1000 risk factors

that could lead to heart

disease, but then again

low testosterone is

another big risk factor.

And Roid Rage? Steroids

can increase aggression,

but that only happens in

about 5% of the population.

And even then, they

can't make you psychotic.

And as for the long-term

side effects,

we don't know. No one's

ever done those studies.

At what point do we say

that a behavior is such

that people just shouldn't

be allowed to engage in it?

I mean, we do

allow people

to do lots of things

that can hurt themselves.

REPORTER:
America's new

junkies- plastic surgery addicts.

I've had my eyes done,

rhinoplasty, chin cleft,

pectoral implants,

bicep implants,

buttock augmentation.

And those are the ones

I can remember right offhand.

TV NARRATOR:
Common sense tells

you this is dangerous and foolish.

You wouldn't risk your neck

in a trick like this.

Common sense tells us that

being shot out of a cannon

Is dangerous business.

Handling dynamite-

This too

looks dangerous.

RICK COLLINS:
Whether

it's bungee jumping

or skydiving

or black-diamond

skiing-

All of them

are fun to do

But would subject one

to tremendous risks

with no real

necessity.

And so if we allow

all of those other risks,

why is it that we're

taking this position

with respect

to anabolic steroids?

COMMENTATOR:
And it's a fair start.

CHRIS:

A Canadian sprinter

Ben Johnson

defeated his archrival

Carl Lewis

in the 100-meter sprint

to become the fastest man

in history.

MAN:
It sure got our spirit up.

Just great.

Hey, Benny!

CHRIS:

But 24 hours later

he tested positive

for steroids

and they gave the gold

medal to our guy, Carl Lewis.

COLLINS:
There was an

international uproar

over the idea

that this Canadian sprinter

had gotten an advantage

based on his use

of anabolic steroids

for its performance effect.

And Congress responded

by holding some hearings.

Ben Johnson would not

have been in the finals.

He probably would not have

been on the Olympic team

had he not

taken steroids.

CHRIS:
Congress wanted to pass

a law that would control steroids

the same way as drugs

like cocaine and heroin

and they called experts

from the D.E.A.,

the F.D.A. and the American

Medical Association.

But they all testified that

steroids should not be treated

like illicit drugs. So Congress

disregarded their experts

and in 1990 they passed the

Anabolic Steroid Control Act,

turning non-medical users

into federal drug criminals.

COLLINS:
This wasn't so

much about health effects.

It was really on what

these things do that's good

in the sense that

they build muscle,

they improve the way

that people can perform.

And that

in a sports context

was seen

as the ultimate evil.

If we took a pie chart

of steroid use

and we looked at

what percentage of that pie

is comprised

of athletes

it would be a very very

small slice of that pie.

The overwhelming

majority of the pie

is comprised of the

recreational gym rat

who's doing it purely

for cosmetic reasons.

The irony is

that we've addressed

a sports cheating issue

by creating a law

that affects all the folks

who aren't cheating in sports.

REPORTER:
One look at

Gregory Valentino's arms

and you know

something's going on.

The 40-year-old is charged

with criminal possession

of anabolic steroids

with intent to sell.

CHRIS:
Some people may

call Gregg Valentino

a freak and a felon.

I call him a neighbor.

He lives down the

block from my grandma.

He also happens to have the

biggest biceps in the world.

Holy crap.

Do you have difficulty

with just sort of

the regular things in life,

like making a sandwich?

No. No no.

I can hit a 90-mile-an-hour

fastball.

Any body wants to

challenge me- let's do it.

I'll show you.

Watch this.

Oh! Oh! Oh!

Come on, Gregg.

Oof!

I told you

I'm no Barry Bonds.

I'm a red-meat man.

I eat a lot of red meat.

Why do you think people

in America are so uptight

About steroids

and steroid users?

Because they fear-

they fear

what they don't know.

You know?

That's ugly. Who the hell

would want to look like that?

I don't want

to look like that.

Why did you want to look

like that then?

Um, I mean,

I like being big.

I had small-man complex, you know.

I'd be like, "I don't

want to be little. "

I wanted to be taller. I couldn't

grow taller, so I grew wider.

Personally I think in the

picture that you showed me-

- Oh, I look better.

- Your arms look a lot better there

than they look now, right?

Wouldn't you agree?

Without a doubt.

I would rather look like

that. Do you think girls

look at me and go,

"oh My God, that's hot"?

They like...

"that's -ing gross. "

I walk into a club and the hottest

girl could be there with her boyfriend

and her boyfriend

will see me

and mush her in the face

to get over to me

just to say to me, like,

"dude, what the -?"

You're getting attention from

the guys, not from the girl.

I don't give a sh*t. It's

attention. I can't explain it to you.

It's like a mindset. Does

that make sense or no?

But I tell you what-

when I'm done

my biceps are humongous,

humongous.

Like that- bam!

For myself, I'm kind of

on the fence.

I have two brothers.

They're both taking steroids

right as we speak

right now.

I don't know

if I want people

to think

I'm not cheating

or to look at me

and say,

"Wow, you know, you

really have a great build. "

But do you think I should

take steroids to get there?

I think steroids are

as American as apple pie.

We live in a society

today that-

You got M.T.V.

And reality shows,

Madonna's making out

with Britney Spears,

Rap music and all that sh*t, and

you're worried about steroids?

Kids are like, "-

you, cop. - you, man,"

Playing video games like grand

theft auto where you're killing cops.

That's worse influence in my

opinion than steroids will ever be,

than Barry Bonds

hitting home runs.

There's a big difference

between a kid taking steroids

who's only had hair on

his dick a couple of years,

as opposed to a grown man

who's looking to perform better

At a better level

in sports.

And where is Schwarzenegger

in all this?

I mean, he is the

poster boy for steroids.

He's the poster boy for "hey,

look, look at me, look what I did.

I came, I conquered,

I kicked ass. "

That autobiography says he

was doing it when he was 15-16.

Hey, he won Mr. Universe

at 19 years old- 19.

Did you ever see what he

looked like when he was 19?

Do you think it was god-given

genetics or do you think

that maybe he took the

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