The Good, the Bad, and the Tiny

Once primarily a bodybuilder’s drug, anabolic steroids—synthetic derivatives of the hormone testosterone—have become as central to mainstream sports as hotdogs and nachos. “You didn’t see this kind of drug use 20 years ago,” says New York University physician Gary Wadler, author of Drugs and the Athlete. Rather than popping pills or shooting up, Wadler adds, most players now use steroid creams, which are harder to detect because the athlete's hormone levels can be precisely controlled. “They’ve gotten very sophisticated at subverting the tests,” Wadler says.