# When did the use of steroids become illegal?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 16, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093 "2009-02-16T14:33:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/1 "2009-02-16T14:33:08Z")
When did it become illegal to use steroids to enhance performance? (I don’t need the obvious answer that it is still legal to use them when properly prescribed, thank you.) On a related note, when did the NFL ban their use?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/2 "2009-02-16T14:58:01Z")
It’s not illegal to use steroids to enhance performance. It’s not allowed in sports (which is often confusingly termed “illegal”) for obvious reasons, but if Joe Six Pack uses them to make himself better able to lift heavy boxes at work, the law doesn’t care. What IS illegal–and this is true of all prescription drugs–is to provide them to someone for whom they are not properly prescribed and to misuse them per the labeled instructions.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/3 "2009-02-16T16:00:38Z")
[Began in late 1980s, put into law in 1990:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroid#United_States)
> [@](#):
>
> The history of the U.S. legislation on anabolic steroids goes back to the late 1980s, when the U.S. Congress considered placing anabolic steroids under the Controlled Substances Act following the controversy over Ben Johnson’s victory at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. During deliberations, the American Medical Association (AMA), Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) all opposed listing anabolic steroids as controlled substances, citing the fact that use of these hormones does not lead to the physical or psychological dependence required for such scheduling under the Controlled Substance Act. Nevertheless, anabolic steroids were added to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act in the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990.[104] The same act also introduced more stringent controls with higher criminal penalties for offenses involving the illegal distribution of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone.
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### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/4 "2009-02-16T21:02:41Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> When did it become illegal to use steroids to enhance performance? (I don’t need the obvious answer that it is still legal to use them when properly prescribed, thank you.) On a related note, when did the NFL ban their use?
Anabolic steroids were classified as a controlled substance in 1990
The NFL banned the use of steroids in 1983. The NBA banned them in 1999, and the NHL in 2005. Major League Baseball banned them in 1991 ([cite - warning pdf](http://baseball1.com/bb-data/steroids/1991Memo_Baseballs_Drug_Policy_And_Prevention_Program.pdf)), although obviously that ban went un-enforced until 2004.
They were banned by the International Olympic Committee in 1967 and FIFA in 1966, although the ability to detect usage through testing at that time was relatively primitive.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/5 "2009-02-16T21:12:10Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#):
>
> What IS illegal–and this is true of all prescription drugs–is to provide them to someone for whom they are not properly prescribed and to misuse them per the labeled instructions.
Dumb question, probably…
Would what Bonds, A-Rod, Clemens, et al are _(allegedly)_ doing fall in this category? Should the police be involved?
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/6 "2009-02-16T21:25:07Z")
With respect to MLB, this week’s [SI](http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/cover/featured/11080/index.htm?eref=sircrc&eref=sisf) had a couple of excellent articles on the mess they’ve found themselves in. As to the legailty, read the article within, [The Rules, The Law, The Reality.](http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1151761/index.htm)
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/7 "2009-02-16T22:09:33Z")
The problem is with the term “properly prescribed.”
For instance, both Elvis and Heath Ledger appear to have been prescribed medicine. However it appears Ledger was doctor hopping and Elvis’s doctor was not using good judgement in giving Elvis any drugs he wanted.
So in those case both people got the drug legally but the use of the drugs was no correct.
Does this make it illegal? Well that is a question for lawyers.
There is also a question of using drugs for which they aren’t intended. A good example is over the counter sleep aids are using a side effect of antihistimines. Antihistimine are not for putting you to sleep, but rather to control allergies. But you CAN use them to help you fall asleep.
So one could say a ballplayer has a legitimate need for a steriod and it just SO HAPPENS that it helps him in other ways.
This is when you get into gray areas
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### Author:  [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-use-of-steroids-become-illegal/486093/8 "2009-02-17T03:04:16Z")
> [@HubZilla](#):
>
> Dumb question, probably…
>
> Would what Bonds, A-Rod, Clemens, et al are _(allegedly)_ doing fall in this category? Should the police be involved?
The person who supplies the drug illegally is the run who runs afoul of the law, and those folks are being prosecuted with respect to both the Clemens and Bonds cases (Brian McNamee, Kirk Radomski, Victor Conte, Greg Anderson, etc.)
Of course, Bonds is facing federal perjury charges, and a grand jury is considering the same against Clemens. Miguel Tejada just pled guilty to the same.