Scott Henson’s Grits for Breakfast, a top criminal justice and civil liberties blog, believes that side effects from anabolic steroids are relatively modest and that steroids should be legalized. He still believes that steroid use among law enforcement represents a potentially serious problem, but only because the non-medical use of anabolic steroids has been criminalized.
[A]s long as steroids are illegal, when cops purchase and use them it opens them up to blackmail, corruption, and participation (at varying levels) in black market drug rings.
Certainly there are good arguments for police officers wanting to take steroids, and I’m actually quite sympathetic to the idea that they ought to be able to do so. My personal view is that steroids, like marijuana, pose modest risks that are knowingly taken by those using the substances, and probably should be legalized. But as long as steroids are illegal, making sure cops don’t participate in an illicit drug culture is a LOT more important than policing baseball players.
Grits for Breakfast’s steroid-related analysis and commentary is some of the best I’ve seen. Recommended.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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