I remember thinking a few years back when images of a buffed Carrot Top began making the internet rounds that when the likes of Carrot Top start juicing, it's signfying some sort of underlying endemic. And that's the subject of this surprisingly thoughtful article by Sports Illustrated, Steroids in America: The Real Dope. The use of Performance-Enhancement Drugs(PEDs) is rampant in the entertainment industry, and, in generally in society as a whole, with estimations of up to 15 million americans using PEDs of some sort.

When I first saw the promotion of it on SI.com, I thought it was going to be another "what about the children" screed, but instead it actually took the opposite tact, arguing that PEDs are here to stay--as part of a burgeoning field known as antiaging medicine--and the last thing we need is a pompous, self-righteous political class hypocrtically driving it underground as is the case for Schedule I narcotics.

Being someone who spent most of my 20s lifting heavy in the Gym for cosmetic reasons, I know exactly what worked as supplements and what didn't work. As SI.com points out, 50 cent didn't get buffed from drinking his vitamin water nor did Arnold get buffed back in the day from shilling Joe Weider's useless supplements.

George Mitchell is recommending Congress to schedule HGH as Schedule I, meaning no medical value...meaning essentially outlawing anti-aging medicine as a consequence. From an Agorist perspective, this would be the ultimate counter-economic hook, suddenly turning the anti-libertarian baby boomer demographic into a customer base. This what this thoughtful SI.com article is warning against, that you can't outlaw human progression...you can't bury it.