Answer:
I wear a red robe, with staff in hand, and a stone in my throat.
Used left or right, I get to travel over cobblestone or gravel. Used up, I vie for sweet success, used down, I cause men great duress.
They're up near the sky, on something very tall. Sometimes they die, only then do they fall.
A mile from end to end, yet as close to as a friend. A precious commodity, freely given. Seen on the dead and on the living. Found on the rich, poor, short and tall, but shared among children most of all.
Ripped from my mother's womb. Beaten and burned, I become a blood thirsty killer.
What do you purposefully put lots of in and on your body, but run away from when you encounter it outside?