What federal laws make anabolic steroids illegal for athletes?
In the mid-1980’s, media reports of the increasing use of anabolic steroids in sports came to the attention of the U.S. government. Between 1988 and 1990, Congressional hearings were held to determine whether the Controlled Substances Act should be amended to include anabolic steroids along with more serious drugs like cocaine and heroin. The majority of witnesses who testified, including medical professionals and representatives of regulatory agencies (including the FDA, the DEA and the National Institute on Drug Abuse) recommended against the proposed amendment to the law. Even the American Medical Association repeatedly and vehemently opposed it, maintaining that steroid abuse does not lead to the physical or psychological dependence required for scheduling under the Controlled Substances Act. (The AMA recommended education, not criminalization, to combat steroid abuse.) Nevertheless, ignoring these experts, Congress scheduled steroids as Schedule III controlled substances under Tit
