Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money

[andyyyyyy]

Time for a mass debate...

The BBC reports of a call from the The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs for a government awareness campaign about the dangers of steroid abuse in the face of evidence that more and more people, some as young as 12 or 13, are using the substances to 'beef up'.

Lord Victor Adebowale, a member of the advisory council

Comments

[alphabetzoo]

Should people have the ultimate right to trade a well-built body for withered testicles if that is what they so desire?

Yes in the same way that I think drugs should be legalised and taxed.
This is for adults, though. Children should not be allowed to make those decisions for the same reasons that we (try to) prohibit them from indulging in other harmful behaviours.

[andyyyyyy]

I couldn't agree with you more. I think the state should protect people from other people but not from themselves. If someone wants to do heroin then that's up to them - if someone steals from me to do it then they should be locked up. If someone wants to build the Charles Atlas body through whatever means then that's up to them - if the steroids make them aggressive and they start hitting people then they should be locked up.

The ultimate, paradoxical conclusion of the protectionist state is that no one has children because the only way to protect everyone from everyone else and from themselves is to not have any people. Rather like the people at work who say (jokingly) 'imagine how much work we could get done if there weren't any customers'.

I don't know if it's just an illusion propagated by the media's selective reporting but it seems to me that the more controls are put in place the less safe society becomes...

[philcamuk]

Absolutely! Although I don't know I should be saying this as I'm training to be a magistrate...

[andyyyyyy]

It's OK. You'll soon learn that it's possible to think that the law's an arse but enforce it anyway. I'm sure it's annoying to be a 'liberal' police officer and have to give cautions or arrests to people for things like drug offences that you feel are pointless because the person is clearly just doing it to get their jollies and not harming anyone else. But I can't imagine there are too many jobs that don't have at least some annoying aspects.

[alphabetzoo]

and a less serious comment (of course):

at the moment the use of steroids usually indicates the guy is gay - I don't want my gaydar all messed up by straights taking them too! They can have the good clothes and sensitive side but leave our drugs alone! :P

[andyyyyyy]

And withered testicles/sterility are not a problem in the gay world because there's no biological need for them pesky sperm things.

First they took our pink, then they took our hair and skin product, now they're taking our drugs too. Straights are just wannabes!

[philcamuk]

LOL!

[deejake]

So it seems the options are clear:

A heavy load

or

Muscle

I'm greedy, I want both.

[fraoch]

Adults can pump their bodies full of whatever they please, but for children it's a different matter. There's a 15-year-old boy at my school who obviously takes steroids and it worries me.

I also find cosmetic surgery distasteful but I wouldn't ban it.

[andyyyyyy]

I often wonder about cosmetic surgery. I know there are cases (breast reconstruction after mastectomy) where it makes a huge difference to someone's self esteem but I suspect in a lot of cases people are doing it because they think it'll make them feel better (or make their partner feel better about them - which is a REALLY bad reason imho) when in actual fact it won't because there's a complex psychology involved.

There was someone in my year at school who was rumoured to be doing steroids. I don't know if it was true or not - I never had a chance to check for withered testicles, sadly - he was nice ;)