Even in Granite Bay the issue of drugs in sports can hit close to home.

  Since the 1990’s steroid era in baseball, crack down on this problematic matter has reached an all time high.

  Cases at the professional level have even faced criminal prosecution.

  In light of the recent incident of adderall abuse at Union Mine High, certain programs in the area have been under pressure to maintain player safety.

  Since 2002 the United States Supreme Court high schools have had the ability to drug test students involved in competitive extracurricular activities.

  According to Dr. Richard A. Marder, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist with the UC Davis Medical Group, performance enhancing drugs have devastating effects on the body.

   Steroids do cause muscle hypertrophy which is what many users go for. But the negatives outweigh any benefits.

 “Steroids cause lipids levels to increase, potential liver failure, and acne,” Marder said

  Due to this lipid increase steroids cause cardiac problems among athletes.

   At Granite Bay High students are held to a high standard of staying clean because of moral values held by their school, families, community and themselves as individuals.

  Senior football player Ryan MacIntosh is aware of the consequences of doing drugs while on a high school athletics team.  

 “Coaches influence us for sure and remind us to stay clean and be fair,” MacIntosh said.

  There also appears to be a large amount of accountability between teammates.

  “We’re a family and we look out for each other,” MacIntosh said.

  MacIntosh also believes steroids are fundamentally unfair.

  However programs that have experienced less success than GBHS tend to have a reputable aura around them.

  Some programs have even been accused of using stimulants prior to games

  Senior Jagger Medeiros knows this is becoming more common in high school sports, especially football

“They’ll do anything to win,” said Medeiros.

  According to Medeiros he has never been a part of or heard of a drug team that has been tested.

  Although students may not hear or see using, there is no doubt it’s present.

 An anonymous source at GBHS isn’t as clean they claim.

  As an underclassmen he had exposure to drugs.

 “Two varsity teams experienced drug problems four years straight,” the source said. “Coaches never test teams because they are scared of losing players.  

  It has become somewhat of a joke among athletes, using recreational and performance enhancing without worry.

 According to the anonymous source, teams in place at GBHS at the moment would be very different if teams drug tested regularly.

 Peer pressure among popular athletes often forces them to abuse recreational or performance enhancing drugs.

 One of Marder’s colleagues advises high school athletes to avoid drugs and to stay clean throughout their high school careers.

 “I never used drugs because I wanted to know if it was me or the drug performing,” Marder’s colleague said.

 A victory is always satisfactory in a game, but whether it’s you winning or the drug winning is up to you.

 These individual decisions are either the building blocks or the trap doors as students prepare to take on the world beyond the front gates of GBHS.