SINCE Mark McGwire declared two seasons ago that he no longer uses androstenedione, that was that. On blind faith, alone, the media-driven issue began to fade.

But andro has not gone away. In fact, according to Larry Rawson’s research and experts in the field, andro is bigger than ever and growing. And its primary consumers are teenage males.

Rawson is the correspondent on a particularly alarming “Outside The Lines” installment, this morning on ESPN from 10:30-11 (repeated on ESPN2 at 12:30).

While andro usage remains, by many accounts, rampant among Major League Baseball players, MLB and the MLB Players Association continue to provide andro a free ride on the avenue of least financial resistance.

Drug testing costs money and it could very well cost baseball home runs, one of MLB’s most favored marketing tools. And home runs increase salaries. No one high up in baseball’s authority structures appears eager to upset the andro cart. And erring on the side of long-term, medical caution is out of the question.

“The preponderance of expert, independent evidence continues to tell us that andro is a steroid,” says Rawson, ESPN’s longtime track-and-field and marathon commentator. “Once in the mouth, the body metabolizes andro, turning it into a steroid.”

While the nutritional-supplement business in this country has grown into a billion-dollar industry – political lobbyists, and all – it exists, today’s Outside the Lines tells us, with all the credible oversight of the Wild, Wild West. “Wet Paint” signs provide more accountability.

“The run on andro is so great among teens that stores can’t keep it in stock long enough,” Rawson said Friday. “It’s sold under 15 to 20 different commercial names, it’s commonly mis-labeled – it often appears as a ‘pro-hormone’ or a ‘precursor’ – and its quality control is virtually voluntary.

“And it’s a steroid.”