Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Soldiers on Steroids

Literally. Rodger Payne notes the unsurprisingly under-reported but surprisingly voluminous trade in steroids and other drugs to private contractors and US soldiers in Iraq. Rodger cites the American Council for Drug Education on one of the main side-effects in the short-term:
Use of steroids can increase muscle mass, strength, and endurance, but can also cause liver tumors, jaundice, water retention, and high blood pressure. Some users show bad judgment because the drugs make them feel invincible. Other users suffer from uncontrolled aggression and violent behavior called “Roid Rage”, severe mood swings, manic episodes and depression. They often suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability and can have delusions.

2 comments:

helmut said...

There, deleted. Be very careful before you post online. It's usually there permanently.

MT said...

The only surprising thing is that the usage isn't expressly illegal. It would be nice if the Hague or the UN took this up. If it isn't biological weaponry, then it seems like the kind of categorical escalation that we'd want to negotiate a world-wide ban on. It might be a great thing for teenage male body image--e.g. if Hollywood stopped casting action heroes based on vasculature.