Should Performance Enhancing Drugs Be Banned

Performance-Enhancing drugs are an unnatural way of changing one's body, and the effects can be life altering, sometimes better yet always, in the end, much worse. It is for this reason why major league sports have put strict rules in place suspending athletes who use these drugs; the Olympics ban these athletes for life. These drugs harm the bodies and minds of athletes, and they are banned to protect their health for their benefit and for the sports as well.

In sports, the competitive drive to win can be very intensive between athletes. Winning in the game usually brings rewards to athletes both financially and psychologically. Such temptations and the consecutive pressures faced by athletes to excel in the sporting events, attempts to achieve a rival edge especially when the application of performance enhancing drugs by athletes in sports activities has becoming a new trend and relatively common. Performance enhancing drugs are used so athletes could achieve better results with least efforts, even as their health and their athletic careers will be placed in danger. That explains why athletes, sports people and body builders turn to performanc enhancing drugs.

According to Calfee, Fadale "Research indicates that younger athletes are increasingly experimenting with these drugs to improve both appearance and athletic abilities…the consensus today is that these drugs do increase athletic measures with objective gains in strength and fat-free mass." So, these player uses the drug so that their performance and appearance are the best so that they can have scholarships and so that they can win their games and get drafted by the National Football League. The athletes use many kinds of drugs but two of the most popular is Anabolic-androgenic Steroid and Ephedra. Athletes uses “Anabolic-androgenic steroids because it is good for gaining muscle mass, strength, increasing muscle mass, but the side effects that this drug have is connected to multiple organ systems: infertility, gynecomastia, female virilization, hypertension, atherosclerosis, physeal closure, aggression, depression.” The other drug they used is “Ephedra alkaloids is used as a possible nutritional supplement it increases weight loss, delay fatigue, increases metabolism, but it has no clear performance benefit, the side effects of this drug are cerebral vascular accident, arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, seizure, psychosis, hypertension, death.” (Calfee, Fadale) Yes, some of the drugs

In 2013, 12 Major League Baseball players each received fifty game suspensions without pay for using performance enhancing drugs. Big names such as Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez were on this list. Testosterone, an illegal substance, is what is found in the performance enhancing drugs. Testosterone increases male characteristics such as body hair, aggression, deepening of the voice, and of course massive muscle growth (“Steroids” par. 1). Some professional athletes claim to use performance enhancing drugs to recover more quickly from injury; others take them because they have not seen the positive feedback in working out, without the use of the steroids. Steroids may be referred to as 'roids', juice, hype, or pump and they are

In the article, “Performance Enhancing Drugs, Paternalism, Meritocracy, and Harm to Sports” by Nicholas Dixon, argues that PED 's should remain banned due to the many different medical risks one could develop when taking drugs mostly, anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids might be the most popular performance-enhancing drugs out there today, but most definitely isn 't the only one being used. There are many medical problems associated with these types of steroids, “they include heart disease, cancer, or other damage to the liver, and damage to both males ' and females ' reproductive system” (Dixon, 247). Anabolic steroids affect an athlete both mentally and physically. The psychological damage one may have is an increased aggressiveness and sexual appetite, sometimes resulting in abnormal

Taking Performance Enhancing Drugs makes the athletes phony and doesn’t show true skill and talent. Rather it shows that the athletes taking them don’t believe in themselves and need to have that extra boost in order to show the sporting world what they are “truly” capable of. PEDs should be banned from sports with a no tolerance policy. The consequences should be stricter and the athlete should be banned from the sport for life so that there will be less athletes to take the PEDs for years to

Steroids not only affect the body but also the mind too. It is proven that when an athlete takes steroids they tend to be more of an aggressive person in society’s eyes. The advantage of having an aggressive behavior is that the abuser is more focused and trains more intensely. The bad part about taking steroids is that the person becomes easily irritated and impatient. Even after an athlete stops using steroids they seem to develop depression because they experience withdraw symptoms. It is against federal law to use steroids without a prescription. Professional athletes usually do not think about how much trouble steroids can give them. In 1990, President George W. Bush signed a bill to put steroids in the category of methamphetamines, opium and morphine. If someone would get caught using steroids they could be punished up to one year in prison, a twenty thousand dollar fine, and a year of drug classes (New Law…).

The desire to compete — and win — is as old as history itself. From the beginnings of sport, athletes have sought out foods and potions to turn their bodies into winning machines. As early as 776 BCE, the very first Olympic games, there are records of attempts to increase testosterone levels (“Steroid Abuse in Sports”). Ancient Greek wrestlers ate vast amounts of meat to gain muscle mass, and Norse “Berserker” warriors took hallucinogenic mushrooms before battle. The first competitive athletes to be charged for doping, however, were swimmers in 1860s Amsterdam. Doping of all kinds, from caffeine to cocaine to anabolics quickly spread to other sports (“Anabolic Steroids, a Brief History”).

The harmful physical and mental health effects that coincide with the usage of performance enhancing drugs explain why PEDs should stay out of the hands

Along with increase in muscle growth performance enhancing drugs affect growth plates, the cardiovascular system, the liver, a person’s emotions, and can make the user dehydrated (Mangan). Growth plates allow the body to grow with age. PED’s harm these growth plates and can keep the body from growing if used before the user reached full maturity. PED’s also increase the chance high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack which could lead to death. PED’s reach the liver as well which filters impurities out of the body. PED’s can lead to a tumor forming on the liver. It also decreases the liver efficiency which can lead to a multitude of illnesses and medical issues. The effects PED’s on a person’s emotions stand as the most well known side-effect. Most commonly people would identify intense rage, anger, and violence as the effects on a person’s psyche. In the long term, however, PED’s can lead to depression, impaired judgement, and overall instability of one’s psyche (Mangan). Dehydration can lead to most of the other side-effects as it will play with a person’s mind, cause organs to shut down, make blood thicker and harder for a person’s heart to move, and if not treated will lead to death. All these side-effects should deter an athlete from using PED’s to only increase strength and endurance. PED’s ultimately will inflict more damage on the user than good and prove why these substances should stay out of

There can be life lasting effects on the body, such as muscle weakness, blurred vision, and high blood pressure (“Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Know the Risks” Mayo Clinic). Also studies show that steroid users can get heart impairments and may be more likely to suffer from heart failure and stroke (Science Daily). It may also hurt them mentally by ruining relationships, being treated less trustworthy, and it might make them act differently and commit crimes. Those are just a few of the effects that may come if you use drugs like

The use of PED’s has many different effects on the body and mind of a person. They can be used to improve the ability, or strength of an athlete but can also be dangerous. There are many types of drugs that people use to get an edge over there opponents.

Every athlete has wished they could jump a little higher, swim a little longer and run a little faster. Throughout the history of sport there have been accounts of chemical enhancements taken by athletes to give them this advantage. This has developed more as time has taken its grasp on modern medicinal practices. People try to obey the laws of a pure sport, yet there seems to be an increasing margin of those who “dope” and get away with it and the small group those that does not, how does this still happen? Is the solution to just allow doping? While with so much speculation and ethically derivative rhetoric to be examined, doping to increase strength in a sport is explicitly wrong to the sport itself. Chemical enhancements discredit the integrity

Doping has widely become known as the use of banned substances and practices by sports personnel particularly athletes in an attempt to improve sporting performances. No sensible fan of sport today denies the prevalence of drugs in virtually every major sport, yet none would argue they can ever be eliminated completely. Money alone would seem to guarantee that much. High profile athletes today are competing for high stakes, not just millions, but dozens of millions. The fear of losing everything career, opportunity, contracts, name, fame, and money is pushing more sportsmen all over the world to use performance enhancing drugs, mainly

Thirdly, many serious side effects and health risks are involved with using PEDs. The benefits of these drugs are really not worth the risks. ‘It is already known that steroids cause liver damage, heart attacks and strokes.’ (Mirkin, 2007) What’s worse, these drugs harm not only the athletes themselves but also harm their children. Mirkin (2007) said that, through a study on the children of the athletes who use PEDs, ‘more than 25 percent had