Steroids
Steroids can have serious side effects on your health, leading to significant injuries and conditions that could ruin your sports career.

Ensure that your student athlete knows the dangers of steroids:

• Anabolic steroids are powerful drugs that many people take in high doses to boost athletic performance.
• Side effects of steroids include: High blood pressure and heart disease, liver damage, stroke and blood clots, urinary and bowel problems, headaches, aching joints, muscle cramps, nausea, sleep problems, increased risk of ligament and tendon injuries, severe acne and baldness
• Contact your child's school to see whether they are involved in the ATLAS program, a NIDA-funded drug abuse prevention program that uses a team-oriented educational approach to motivate and empower student athletes to make the right choices about steroid use

Chewing Tobacco
Chewing tobacco is dangerous and is not safer than cigarettes, as some young athletes falsely believe. It can eventually damage your playing career.

Understand the risks of chewing tobacco

• Often chewing tobacco is incorrectly considered safer among athletes than smoking cigarettes
• Many athletes are aware of the effects from smoking cigarettes and therefore are less likely to smoke than non-athletes. However, research shows that high school athletes are more likely to use chewing tobacco or snuff than non-athletes because they believe it is safer.
• Chewing tobacco and/or smokeless tobacco poses major health risks including tooth decay, sores in the mouth, cancer, heart disease, and lung disease