Pros And Cons Of Performance Enhancers

The NFL suspends its players without pay for any use of illegal substances based on the number of offenses and the suspensions are four games, eight games, and one full season suspension (Dolich, 2013). Each league has improved its policies in recent years, but the support for increased and better testing continues to grow. The MLB can require players to provide blood samples and the NFL had talks of taking blood samples during training camp in order to test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH), but the NBA and NHL have not applied these procedures in their programs (Calcaterra, 2013).

In Major League Baseball, numerous players have put up tremendous statistics and record breaking numbers. There are a great amount of players in the league that have done this naturally, however it is not uncommon to see star players get caught taking performance enhancing drugs or steroids. Steroid use in baseball has been an issue since the earliest days of the game, and can be seen very frequently in players today. Jose Canseco was a star hitter in the major leagues, who had admitted to steroid later in his career. Canseco once estimated that 85% of other players were also taking performance enhancing drugs. Though that estimate is not proven, there are still many players today that are taking these steroids, and it needs to remain an issue in the eyes of the MLB. Taking these drugs not only promotes the risk of significant side effects and health problems to the player consuming them, but it makes changes to the game itself as well. The way the game is being played has changed over time due to this issue, and players are receiving advantages that other players are not. Overall, these illegal drugs are unfair to other players in the game and simply are not safe, and should never become legal in the league.

Steroid abuse has become a huge problem in professional sports today. Athletes are now using steroids to gain a competitive edge over their opponents. Also, the athletes are using the steroids to recover quickly from major injuries or surgeries. Many former superstar athletes have been caught taking steroids during the season and offseason.

Drugs came around in baseball as soon as the first player got caught use steroids. Steroids were in the MLB banned in the early 1990s. Player did not get tested like they should so that is why more players were caught using steroids.

The benefits of using some types of performance-enhancing drugs are obvious. Professional athletes have a very 'short shelf life' as competitors in most sports and must cash in on their talents as soon as possible. For Olympic athletes, the

In 1990 Congress passed the Anabolic Steroids Control Act, but didn’t say how the offenders would be caught. “The next year MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent made it clear in a memo that this was very much relevant to baseball.”(Rymer) The memo read as follows: “The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players and personnel is strictly prohibited. Major League players or personnel involved in the possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance are subject to discipline by the Commissioner and risk permanent expulsion from the game… This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids or prescription drugs for which the individual in possession of the drug does not have a prescription.”(ESPN) Every player who

Performance enhancers are very prominent in professional sports today. A lot of players are facing suspensions and other penalties for using them. The sport that gets scrutinized the most for this is Baseball. Many former users in the MLB (or formally the NABBP) have come out saying that they were using these drugs while playing. Some of these players are Jorge Sosa, Antonio Bastardo, and the famous Alex Rodriguez. Although these drugs have been prohibited, players are still finding ways around the tests which is why in some other countries they are legal so that no one player can have an unfair advantage.

The new policy stated that players would get tested twice, an initial test, and a second follow-up test around a week later ("The Steroids Era"). The league tweaked it's policy again in 2005, with the league now calling for year round testing ("The Steroids Era"). The new reforms from 2011, added more substances to the banned list, added 600 more yearly tests, and upped the amount of offseason tests that could be performed to 375 ("The Steroids Era"). The top 200 players in the amateur draft were also eligible for testing, if a player tested positive they could remain in the draft but teams would be notified of the results ("The Steroids Era"). The MLB announced that it was enhancing their steroid testing program to scan more thoroughly in 2014. The MLB started using better drug tests on players, in 2014, in hopes that it would scare players enough to get them to stop using steroids. Once they served their suspensions would get unannounced blood and urine tests at least one time per year for the remaining time that they played in the MLB ("Steroids in

However the spotlight that steroids find themselves in are in professional sports, mainly Major League Baseball. Steroids have been an on-going issue with Major League Baseball. The MLB has been tainted in one way or another since the game began. However, now the game has been tainted with drugs that are giving some players an advantage over others. These players are also taking risks with drugs because they are constantly trying to attain a drug that does not get detected when they get drug tests. The MLB should outsource their drug testing policies to an independent organization like the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between players and the MLB. In 1994-95, the MLB suffered a strike that resulted in the cancellation of the post season. Afterwards, fans were deterred from the sport. So in 1998,

The National Football League currently enforces rules against steroids that for a positive test, the player caught using the steroids could be suspended for four games (wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League).

Many athletes are particularly trusting with regards to performance enhancers because many of them are eager to be the best in their respective sport. At the professional level, where athletes are expected to perform at high levels, many who are desperate to keep their jobs will do whatever they can to match the standard. In their book Death in the Locker Room, authors Bob Goldman, Patricia Bush, and Ronald Klatz discuss this immense pressure athletes feel to use PEDs. The authors explain how players often place this pressure on themselves because of an overwhelming desire to become famous, adored athletes.

Not only are these players, who use steroids and get caught , not able to play the game they love, but will lose out on a lot of money that they could be making during the games that they miss.

Professional sports are a competition between the greatest athletes in the world. And when I go to a game, that’s exactly what I expect to see. Sports are entertainment. There is no room for purity and respecting the limits that athletes had in the past. Modern athletes should utilize all the resources that they have available to them. This includes steroids, which enhance an athlete’s performance. After all, performance is what really matters.

PEDs and steroids provide better stamina, stronger muscles, and more muscular endurance. "Society cares because steroid use is a form of cheating. Since steroids work so well, they create an unfair advantage for those who take them, and this breaks the social contract athletes have implicitly agreed to: We are going to have a fair contest. There are things we can and cannot do. Even if there were a safe performance-enhancing substance, if it weren't available to everybody, using it would still be cheating" (Dillingham). The end game will be actions that are increasingly violent, extreme, and meaningless, practiced by a class of chemical and or genetic mutant gladiators. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is not accidental; it is planned and deliberate with the sole objective of getting an unfair

Performance-enhancing drugs are any substances, medication procedures or devices taken by an athlete or bodybuilder to improve their performance. Some substances are natural and can be found in our bodies, some are prescribed so they are legal while some are illegal and banned from many sporting organisations e.g. The Olympics (Quinn, 2015). It comes in many different forms. Just like any drug it also has its risks and effects. There is huge controversy on wither performance enhancing drugs should be allowed to be consumed by those in sport due to it being an advantage. I personally believe that it should be allowed but to only those who need it for their recovery.