re: Why are steroids illegal?

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Cocaine is available in multiple prescriptions.

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Not really. There are some prescribed medicines that will cause you to test positive for cocaine. There is one form of cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride) used as a topical anesthetic, but there is no prescribed use for ingested cocaine, or any form of cocaine outside of cocaine hydrochloride. Any form of cocaine that is not formulated as a topical solution is in fact illegal in all circumstances, prescription or not.

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You can have LSD for research.

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I honestly don't know much about how research on illegal drugs is regulated. Doesn't change the fact the drug is illegal though, at least no to my knowledge.

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So it's not as cut and dry as you're saying. Most people consider a scheduled drug to be an illegal drug, because it's illegal to possess without special conditions.

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That's a really wide categorization. Schedule 1 drugs are definitely illegal. LSD. Ecstacy. Heroin.

Schedule 2? Those are iffy. Cocaine is illegal. It's only schedule 2 because of topical use. But adderall and ritalin? Those are prescription drugs that most people don't think of as being illegal even though they have the same schedule as narcotics.

Schedule 3? No, it takes a real stretch to consider those sorts of prescription drugs illegal. That's where steroids and painkillers with a tiny amount of codeine fit. The closest thing to a "street drug" in this schedule is probably Ketamine (special K). And to be honest Ketamine is only a schedule 3 because it gives you a high/hallucinations. It's not particularly addictive or even all that damaging to use which is why it's not a higher schedule. If it didn't give you a buzz it would be a schedule 4.

Beyond that there's no real question. You're talking about things like Valium, Xanax and cough syrups.

So no, being scheduled really isn't enough to consider something illegal. Schedule 1 definitely is though. Some schedule 2's as well. Nothing schedule 3 or lower.