I’ve always loved the purity of high school sports.

That’s why the results of a poll of 3,705 high school students, taken by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids in 2013, are so shocking.

Eleven percent of those polled admitted to using synthetic HGH at least one time.

That’s a five-percent increase over the organization’s four previous annual surveys.

Eleven percent — that’s more than one out of every 10 kids polled.

Way too many.

And the question is why.

It’s not like the word isn’t out as to what damage steroids can do to the human body. At long last, those drugs are taboo in professional sports.

Do they really exist in high school sports?

Is winning — or simply looking good — really that important?

While drug testing exists at some high schools, there is no drug testing before high school sporting events.

Surely we’re not getting to the point where prep football players are peeing into cups in order to get cleared to play on Friday nights.

That’s doubtful, of course, but these numbers are alarming.

Steve Pasierb, president of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, said in a recent Associated Press story that kids are primarily taking HGH for physical appearance.

“Girls want to be thin and toned. For a lot of boys, it’s about their six-pack,” he was quoted as saying.

If NFL players — guys in their 20’s and 30’s — willingly took steroids without concerns for the consequences later in life, high school athletes probably wouldn’t be thinking along those lines.

We all remember when we were kids.

You feel indestructible, especially if you’re a high school athlete. Peer pressure is big, as is the thought of being as popular among the group as you can be.

But still ... HGH?

When I played sports as a kid — granted, many years ago — I wouldn’t think of even smoking a cigarette, let alone sticking a needle in a limb.

You want to look good?

Lift weights, eat right and exercise. You want to perform better on the field?

Practice harder and on your own.

Sadly, in this day and age, shortcuts are available.

High school coaches can play a role in deterring drug use, for sure, but shouldn’t be held responsible if they don’t know a player on his or her team is “cheating.”

Coaches can’t be around their athletes 24-7 and who knows where kids are getting the stuff and how they’re being instructed to use it.

Donald Hooton Sr., a Texas man whose 17-year-old son committed suicide because of steroid use, is president of the Taylor Hooton Foundation, which has staff members speak at school assemblies and camps about steroid use.

Hooton estimates more than 1.5 million youths in the United States have tried steroids.

If this column stops one more from doing so, it was well worth writing.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle