The Use of Steroids in Athletics and its Effects on Athletes

The policies and procedures for drug testing within the four major sport leagues are changing rapidly, due to the rise of players using illegal substances. Major League Baseball currently has the best drug-testing program of the major sport leagues. Many of the substances athletes are taking can only be detected through blood testing. Major League Baseball is the only league that has fully executed blood testing to detect and deter those whom are using, or wish to use, HGH and other banned substances. Not only has Major League Baseball applied blood testing at the elite level, it has also implemented it in Minor League Baseball, as well (http://sports.espn.go.com). The league has taken a dominant stance on “stamping” out all banned substances and the penalties for an athlete testing positive are the most severe of any

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.

Today’s athletes are highly paid and well-respected by many people. Once the athlete reaches the professional level, they become a role model for many. Sometimes this image culture becomes too important to the athlete, engrossing him or her to the point where the attention they are receiving is more intoxicating than the game they play.There is pressure to use performance enhancing drugs in order to maintain their societal status. They forgot about the hard work they put into getting to the highest level of sports. Professional athletes who use performance enhancing drugs should have harsher punishments than those currently in place if they use them.

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.

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) commissioners are debating about the anabolic steroids situation that is occurring in professional baseball today. To many professionals are getting accused of using the harmful drug. Professional baseball players are getting tested twice a year for anabolic substances throughout the course of the regular season. In order to stop steroids in MLB, commissioners should pass random drug testing. Tony Larussa stated, “By having random drug tests, it would make the game of baseball true once again.” Steroids are ruining the game of baseball, and the commissioners need to decide on something soon. By having random drug tests in Major League Baseball throughout the season, it would fix the problems that baseball is

Abstract:  With the increase of competition has also come the need to become bigger and stronger than the opponent.  The use of steroids among athletes has caused the focus of the game to change.  No longer does an athlete want to win by doing their best, but they want to become bigger and have an advantage over the opponent.  Ultimately, all athletes feel that they need to use performance-enhancing drugs to compete at the same level. Despite all of the warnings and information on performance-enhancing drugs, athletes continue to use them and overlook the potential health risks associated with steroids.

My major is kinesiology. The topic I chose to commit to is whether steroids should be legalized or stay illegal. I chose this topic because it is an ongoing issue happening today with athletes and it has been an issue for a long time. The topic of steroids in sport has had much controversy as said by a couple of my kinesiology professors during their

Success comes from humbleness and dedication to achieve a goal or a dream. Drug use is not beneath some athletes who have seen no other way to become successful in their career. The organization that oversees professional sports should be in the business of testing athletes for drug use at least every month at random.

“Steroids are for guys who want to cheat opponents”-Lawrence Taylor. Using steroids is very frowned upon in the MLB, for a very good reason. It’s cheating. Steroids are performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) that help you hit harder and throw harder. Players don’t seem to get the simple fact that it’s not right to use steroids. Using steroids in the MLB is cheating and can lead to serious consequences.

Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) are known to be used widely throughout sports, and they have aided many famous players in their success. An example of this is at the time of the “steroid era” (1980s-2000s) in baseball, when well-known players like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and many others used PEDs to hit a crazy amount of home runs that broke records (“The Steroid Era”). Some players feel as if they need to use PEDs in order to earn a spot on the team because of how much an advantage is gained by using them (Rosenberg). What I think about the controversial topic of whether PEDs should be legal is that the health risks, the bad example it shows, and it making sports unchallenging is enough to show that it should stay illegal.

‘It's part of an education program [to promote] awareness. The testing is designed to deter students from taking these substances. We need to assess whether or not the results are a deterrent.’ The New Jersey program randomly tests high school athletes if they reach the state-playoff level at the end of each sports season. By the end of this school year, 500 students will have been screened” (Geifner). To this end, we can see how the New Jersey system is just an example of programs that are taking development and are focused on teaching students to avoid PEDs. Of course, the best way to resolve high school drug abuse in sports is to crack down on substance abuse by pro athletes. In doing so high school athletes will see the major consequences that can come with cheating (even if they can’t notice the health problems). People need to sign petitions to major league corporations, such as the NFL or MLB informing these leagues the importance of banning athletes from playing in games and placing significant fines. These companies must

Future athletes need to be educated and understand that performance enhancing drugs are wrong and violate the rules of sportsmanship (Survey Reveals). Many professional sports associations, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and even the International Olympic Committee (IOC) take the use of performance enhancing drugs, or PED’s, by athletes and coaches very seriously. They have imposed harsher consequences and have created more frequent testing protocols. All are developing stronger methods to prevent use of in the years to come.

When it comes to sports, it is hard to know who has true talent and who is cheating, by using steroids. Steroids play a big role in professional sports. Athletes of all ages have been using steroids. Steroids are one of the world’s most controversial drugs. Peter F. Martin, in the essay, “Destroyed,” is against steroids. In the essay, “The Designer Player,” Rodrigo Villagomez is in favor of

According to Dr. Charles E. Yesalis, a professor health and human development at Penn St. University, "drug use among athletes has gone dramatically up in recent years. Athletes also are becoming more venturesome about mixing different types of drugs. One reason is that new drugs keep coming on the market, and some turn out to be of help in giving athletes a competitive edge. Sports officials feel they have no choice but to try to combat drug use in sports with every legitimate weapon at their command. They are motivated in part by concern for athletes' well being. Most performance-enhancing agents have side effects that can pose an immediate or long-range threat to health. But the officials are driven by self-interest too. If the public perceive major sports to be hopelessly drug-ridden, attendance and television viewership is likely to plummet. And thatcould lead to financial ruin for athletes and promoters alike. The monetary stakes are higher today than ever before. Many of the top athletes damned very high salaries, and a select few demand huge additional sums for product endorsement. Pro team owners, meanwhile, are constantly scrambling for more income from broadcasting and other sources to meet their massive payrolls and still turn a profit. A series of drug scandals might well cause media outlets and corporate sponsors

Performance enhancing drug use has been a sizable problem in the past years and continues to be a problem today. Implementing stronger and more effective drug testing is needed to stabilize the fairness of sports and their respective organizations as well as helping sustain the health of the athletes. Others argue that drug testing athletes is unethical and against the players individual rights. However, drug testing is a proven method to medicate health problems for the athletes as well as proven to keep competition in all sports competitive and fair. Drug testing on the surface seems unjustified and replaceable but when researched it’s proven to be ethical and extremely important.