Are Steroids Addictive?

In the book STEROIDS by Scott E. Lucas, I read the chapter "Are Steroids Addictive". It talked about how steroids can be as addicting as other drugs and how they are related. The chapter says there are two types of addiction; drug abuse liability and drug dependence. Drug abuse liability is where a person is interested and even seeing if you can try and get them is liability. Lucas says, "Actually using the drug is the highest form of abuse liability"(Lucas 66). People seek out steroids because they believe they are not big or strong enough. On the other hand, drug dependence is where not only the fact that you want and crave the drugs, but it's to the point where your body has become adapted to it and can get sick if you don't have it. These are called withdrawals and they include nausea, lack of appetite, painful joints, and muscle cramps when you are quitting steroids. Users who are quitting steroids might need medication to help the withdrawals not be so bad. However, dependence isn't as common for steroids as it is for other drugs.
This was a very interesting chapter and opened my eyes more to how steroids can hold somebody down. If someone started taking them so much and their body got used to it then they decided it was time to stop it would be twice as hard because their body would be dependent on it. Also, I was unaware of the liability type of addiction where even if you see if you can buy them thats considered drug liability. That just sets up more obstacles for people to give steroids up.


Lukas, Scott E.. STEROIDS. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1994.