through hard work they were determined to succeed and oftentimes on the difficult situations their performances victories records and careers seemed to capture the straightforward n honesty hard work integrity that is based upon the heart of sports today at least in the past the ideal the sports allow success based upon merit whether it be on the court the field or the track unfortunately a mountain speaker the scourge of steroids and performance enhancing drugs is not simply a footnote in the history of sports in america steroids use goes much deeper to the basic integrity of sports and all of athletics at the most fundamental level steroid use is just plain cheating and furthermore it is illegal steroids are classified as a schedule three control substances under the control substance act those caught in illegal possession of steroids without a prescription face arrest and prosecution dealers face a federal felony charge and up to five years in prison for them or furthermore steroid use involve significant health risks for all athletes who use them studies suggest that use of steroids can lead to stunted growth in adolescence increased risk of heart  liver disease as well as cancer and hormonal problems for both men and women and that is why these and other factors demand that our lead athletic organizations both professional and amateur are a stablish uniform world class drug testing standards that are consistent and robust just as our criminal laws are today however the most worrisome development is that steroids are not only infiltrating their professional and elite amateur leagues they're finding their way into middle schools and high school sports programs and fact according to the most recent monitoring for the future survey funded by the national institute on drug abuse three and a half percent of high school seniors have used steroids with similar percentages for eighth and tenth eighth through tenth grade these are alarming numbers that represent just a part of the susceptible youth population that is out there these estimates suggest that high school steroids problem is just as great if not greater that it is in the professional leagues as any parent knows high school is a trying time for many kids let alone student athletes these exceptional kids now face yet a nother hazard along the way to adult hood that is trying to claim the safe haven of sports as its next growth market we must take an aggressive stand against this plague before these pressures lead young students athletes to use steroids is just trucked of effects on honesty and fairplay and ultimately their very health and well being and hearing before the commerce trade consumer protection subcommittee last year which i chaired in the last congress we heard testimony from a parent of a young man who tragically took his own life when that pressure to succeed coupled with steroids became too much unfortunately these tragic stories are all too common richard pound the founder and chair of the world anti doping agency says quote do we want our children to be forced to become drug addicts in order to be successful in sports like it or not sports stars are heroes and idols to our kids our kids copy these heroes their behavior that's why we have to encourage the stars to be good role models both on and off the field and quote congress must continue to look into the use of illegal steroid and performance enhancing drug use professional leagues have an obligation to be the gold standard with regard to education detection and sanctions for the illicit use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs the recent scandals in baseball the olympics professional wrestling and other professional amateur sports have served to highlight the significance of the steroids problem now sometimes i'm asked back in the district why i care about drugs in sports should the athletes perhaps duet or whatever they want they're only hurting themselves as easy a the use of steroids and performance enhancing drug by athletes today goes beyond just the integrity of the sport by using illegal drugs athletes are in effect telling our children that the only way to be successful and compete at the highest level is to cheat that is not the message i want our children to hear the gentleman time is expired pursuant to claw twelve day of rule one th to clear the house in recess until noon today