U.S. teenagers' reported use of synthetic human growth hormone more than doubled between 2012 to 2013 as they sought to improve athletic performance and appearance, a survey by anti-drug advocates found.
Eleven percent of 3,705 teenagers in grades 9 to 12 polled by the non-profit Partnership for Drug-Free Kids said they had used synthetic human growth hormone at least once without a prescription, up from 5 percent in 2012.
Use of synthetic human growth hormone (HGH) was higher among blacks and Hispanics, at 15 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Caucasians were at 9 percent, according to the group's annual survey released on Tuesday.
Twelve percent of boys said they had used synthetic HGH compared with 9 percent of teenage girls.
These data are absolutely astonishing to me! Are you kidding? One in ten high school aged kids have used HGH?
Now I love me some Ultrarunning, and I am not above using coffee and Mountain Dew in the latter stages of a race to perk me up, but injecting HGH as part of a deliberate strategy to improve performance? I cannot imagine the pressure that these kids must feel to resort to that solution, nor can I imagine the type of rationalizing mindset that would pass that off as something OK to do.
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