Anti-steroid crusader Don Hooton said Friday that abuse of muscle-building drugs is a little like an iceberg. Everybody knows that many professional athletes have been linked to steroids, but not enough people are aware of the hidden dangers.
“We’re focused on Lance Armstrong and other professional athletes and we miss the most important problem,” said Hooton, who founded the Taylor Hooton Foundation after his son — a 17-year-old baseball player who used steroids — committed suicide. “Too many kids are using steroids.”
Hooton will be in New York on Thursday to unveil the results of a national survey funded by the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society and his foundation on steroid use among young people. Hooton says the study will demonstrate that steroid abuse is much more prevalent among teens than most people realize. “When we do our presentations, we ask people, ‘Have you seen steroid use?’ Almost unanimously, kids say yes. But if you ask the parents, they look at you like you have three heads,” Hooton said.
