Greek wrestlers ate huge quantities of meat to build muscle, and Norse warriors-the Berserkers-ate hallucinogenic mushrooms to gear up for battle.

The first competitive athletes believed to be charged with "doping taking drugs and other nonfood substances to improve performance were swimmers in Amsterdam in the 1860s. Doping, with anything from strychnine and caffeine to cocaine and heroin, spread to other sports over the next several decades.

The use of anabolic steroids by athletes is relatively new. Testosterone was first synthesized in the 1930's and was introduced into the sporting arena in the 1940's and 1950's. When the Russian weightlifting team thanks, in part, to synthetic testosterone-walked off with a pile of medals at the 1952 Olympics, an American physician determined that U. S. competitors should have the same advantage.

By 1958 a U.S. pharmaceutical firm had developed anabolic steroids. Although the physician soon realized the drug had unwanted side effects, it was too late to halt its spread into the sports world.

Early users were mainly bodybuilders, weightlifters, football players, and discus, shot put, or javelin throwers-competitors who relied heavily on bulk and strength.

During the 1970's demand grew as athletes in other sports sought the competitive edge that anabolic steroids seemed to provide.

By the 1980's, as nonathletes also discovered the body-enhancing properties of steroids, a black market began to flourish for the illegal production and sale of the drugs for nonmedical purposes.

-- Doctors Who's Who, Inc.

Until 1935, no one knew that anabolic steroids were associated with the accumulation of muscle tissue. In that timeframe, two researchers experimenting on dogs discovered that testosterone given under certain conditions would increase muscle mass. The current history of anabolic steroids as abusable drugs began in 1954 among Olympic weightlifters. In 1956, Dianabol (Methandrostenolone) was first marketed in the United States, clearing the way for the use of anabolics by U.S. athletes. At first, only world-class athletes in high-strength sports such as weight lifting abused anabolics. Among Olympic athletes, anabolic steroids were a problem as long ago as 1964.
Athletes and their trainers developed high dose, multiple-drug regimens that were not based on scientific research. These methods of use were passed by word of mouth from one training group to another. Even today, the use of many types of steroids in high doses has never been examined in controlled scientific studies. Anabolic steroid abusers mistrust scientific opinions about high-dose steroid use. When it was first noticed as a growing problem, some scientists and public officials stated that there was no evidence that steroids caused muscle growth or improved performance, and that use of large amounts would lead to dramatic, toxic side effects in all users. These pronouncements went against the common knowledge and experience of the athletes, who did not see large numbers of their steroid-using friends dropping dead. As their reputation grew, anabolic abuse spread to other sports. Today, the only Olympic sports in which anabolic steroids have not been detected are women's field hockey and figure skating. Steroid abuse spread beyond the Olympics throughout the 1970's and 1980's. In 1983, nineteen athletes were disqualified from the Olympics for steroid abuse.

A 1970 survey of five American universities showed that 15% of college athletes were steroid abusers. By 1984, 20% of college athletes were using steroids. In 1975, anabolic abuse in Arizona high schools was 0.7% over all, with 4% of athletes admitting steroid use. A 1986 survey in Minneapolis revealed a 3% average rate of steroid abuse in grades 8, 10, and 12. In one of these high schools, the rate of use was 8% in senior males. In a 1988 survey in a suburban Chicago school, 6.5% of male students admitted taking steroids, and 2.5% of female students admitted steroid abuse. Surveys in 1989 estimated that there were 500,000 adolescent steroid abusers nationwide, and as many as 1 million steroid abusers of all ages in the United States. In November 1990, U.S. Federal Law classified all anabolic steroids as Controlled Dangerous Substances (Type 2).