Essay Drug Use in Sports

Drugs in professional sports has become a problem ever since the 1960s. Whether it is a performance enhancing drug, a recreational drug, alcohol or anything along those lines, drug consumption among professional athletes has become more common over time. Along with drug usage by professional athletes comes the health consequences, punishments and or treatment. The penalty professional athletes face for drug consumption should correspond to each drug consumed accordingly.

Anabolic steroid abuse has become a national concern among high school athletes. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of athletes using these performance enhancing drugs in high school almost double the number using since the 1980's. These athletes feel that steroids gives them the competitive edge that they think they need to boost themselves past the competition.

The sports world is filled with endless competition with everyone trying to be the absolute best, so is greatness worth risking their own life? With the constant push from coaches, family members, fans, and even themselves, it is no wonder that athletes sometimes experiment with performance enhancers. There are many different types of Performance Enhancing Drugs, and each kind has different effects on the human body. There are many different categories of Performance Enhancing Drugs, a few include; Anabolic steroids which unnaturally build muscle at a much more rapid rate, Stimulants which can improve athletic performance and endurance while decreasing fatigue, and Painkillers which can allow an athlete to perform

Professional athletes are competitive by nature and will do what it takes to win. Sports have been used as not only entertainment but a way for a person to show off their athletic ability. Due to uncontrollable factors people may find it harder to compete or surpass other’s performance. Even with training people’s bodies respond different to physical stimulation. Professional baseball is an extremely competitive sport with hand-eye coordination and strength being key factors. When the difference between playing in the majors or minors, keeping up with younger players as you age or to be the best players turn to performance enhancing drugs. Performance enhancing drugs come in many different forms but the most common are anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and other agents that mimic anabolic results. These performance enhancing drugs, with addition to hard work do in fact increase strength in the user. These methods of performance enhancement also include many other substances used to gain an edge on the competition. All of these are considered cheating because of the fact a person gains an unfair advantage over other players. The use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs has changed what once was a game played for enjoyment into a drug fueled search for the largest salary.

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) cause heart problems, deformities, and sometimes death. Steroids are just one type of the dangerous PEDs the world has. Steroids can be anabolic, produces muscle growth, or synthetic, man made (Mayo Clinic Staff). Anabolic effects in men include forming breasts, baldness, shrunken testicles, infertility, impotence, and many more that can be serious and lead to cancer (Mayo Clinic Staff). Anabolic effects in women include a deeper voice, increased body hair, baldness, and infrequent or absent periods, which could lead to infertility (Mayo Clinic Staff). Anabolic steroids cause acne, tumors, liver failure, high blood pressure, and circulatory problems in both men and women (Mayo Clinic Staff). Another type of steroid is synthetic, or man

An issue that is causing problems in professional and college sports are performance enhancing substances. Anabolic steroids such as androstenedione, human growth hormone, berythropoietin, diuretics and, creatine using these substances are known as doping. The question is: “Do performance enhancing drugs make the game better or make it unsafe?” Performance enhancing drugs have multiple health risks. When any athletes use them younger athletes feel they have to take them to make it in the big leagues.

There should not be a controversy over anabolic steroid use in athletics non-medical use of anabolic steroids is illegal and banned by most, if not all major sports organizations. Still, some athletes persist in taking them, believing that these substances provide a competitive advantage. But beyond the issues of popularity or legality is the fact that anabolic steroid can cause serious physical and psychological side effects. Drug abuse occurs in all sports and at most levels of competition. Athletic life may lead to drug abuse for a number of reasons, including for performance enhancement, to self-treat otherwise untreated mental illness, and to deal with stressors, such as pressure to perform, injuries, physical pain, and retirement from sport.

Using performance- enhancing drugs has become the major part of any athletic life since the early Greek time. The first attempt for athletes to increase their performance was during the 8th century BC Greek Olympics, according to Wikipedia.com. It was documented that Olympians ate sheep testicles that increased their energy. Later, scientists confirmed that this strange method was very effective (wikipedia). However, lets look at the time that is a little closer to us, and we can see the bright headlines, “Doping has been acknowledged as a problem since at least 1960” or “95% of players in the NFL use a performance enhancing drug such as steroid”. It seems horrifying. Is it a competition of pharmacologists? Some athletes have become so addicted

Athletes have used performance enhancing drugs(PED) throughout history to increase personal performance and recover quicker. Although, there are many PEDs athletes use, two are used commonly among several athletes in many different professions of sports. Steroids and Human Growth Hormones are those two. Professional teams have specific tests for these two drugs, and the consequences can be severe if an athlete is caught using these substances illegally. The mix of Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen, which makes up steroids, cause significant weight gains, but consequently steroids are very harmful to the liver and can cause permanent damage “Anadrol 50”. Human Growth Hormones is a over the counter drug athletes use to recover faster, and to make strength gains rapidly “Haley Simon Human Growth Hormone”. Both of these performance enhancing drugs are a

Performance enhancing drugs have been ruining competitive sports for a long period of time. Starting all the way back into the first Olympic Games, 776 BC - 393 BC. Even though the drugs were not the same as they are now. The way athletes are taking them is ruining competitive sports from here on out. Performance enhancing drugs are not only a form of cheating, but they can also be very harmful and dangerous. They can lead into serious body defects and could cause death as evidenced by some athletes who have used them extensively. The established side effects and adverse reactions for men and women included acne, genital changes, water retention in tissue, yellowing of eyes and skin, oily skin, stunted growth, fetal damage, coronary artery

Athletes have been using PEDs’ to increase performance for many years. In the 1800’s, such things as alcohol, caffeine, and cocaine were used by athletes. By the mid 1950’s, steroids became the drug of choice by injecting testosterone to increase muscle mass and strength for weight lifters. As the time increased, so have the performance enhancing drugs. They have become very sophisticated including steroids, stimulants, and even genetically engineered growth hormones. With greater strength and better performance,

PED’s in high school, college, and professional sports have been a problem since the 1960’s. There are many types of performance enhancing drugs like: stimulants, supplements, human growth hormones, and anabolic steroids. These PED’s are taken to improve strength, train for longer periods of time, and improve endurance. “Doping” is a word used to show that athletes are using illegal substances to improve their skill level. The World Anti-Doping Agency was created to bring awareness about the issue of doping into the sports arena.

Performance enhancing drugs can cause health risks which it takes the time to learn about the benefits, and health risks. Other drugs have different risks, benefits, and side effects. There is at least 7 different type of drugs. They all have different risks. The 7 kinds of drugs are anabolic steroids, Androstenedione, Human growth hormone, Erythropoietin, Diuretics, Creatine and Stimulants. The government should banned them because most of the athletes say it’s cheating and it’s not natural. PED makes you stronger and faster but they can also hurt you. Any substance taken to perform better athletically. This is reference often and typically refers to anabolic steroid use in sports by professional and amateur athletes. (Staff, 2010)

Drugs are a rapid problem growing all over the place from the streets of Major cities to the locker room of many Major league teams. Drugs come in all forms, shapes, and sizes Drugs are all over the place. Almost everyone has taken some kind of drug before, maybe it was a prescription from your doctor but they are still drugs. Did you know almost four percent of America, America are addicted to pain relievers. This is a drug you can literally go into a regular store like Wal-Mart and buy, these and they are really easy to become addicted to them too. The most common drug used by athletes are called performance drugs, performance drugs are used by athletes to improve their performance in many different sports. Athletes love using these drugs to get ahead of competition to put their body on another level separating them from the rest. These drugs make them superior makes them feel as if they are the best they can be with these drugs and they almost kind of appeal to their egos. While Some drugs are used by certified doctors,

Throughout sports history, banned substances, also known as “performance enhancing drugs” have been used in sport by athletes in order to attain artificial improvement of physical output, however, these PED’s can cause great harm on one’s health. The use of PED’s are mainly being used at the professional level, (MLB, NFL, NBA), but we have not been able to get a full understanding of the use of banned substances at the amateur level of sports.