Use Of Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

The competitive drive to win at all cost is fierce among athletes. Winning at all cost often includes using one of many performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. Many athletes use performance enhancing drugs, like steroids, to achieve higher goals and set higher records than other drug-free successful athletes. Although athletes are performing at higher levels when using such drugs, what is the cost? Finally anabolic steroids should remain banned from sports because their use results in many harmful side effects; because their use violates sports regulations, and because their use can cause death.

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.

As the use of performance enhancing drugs is becoming more popular amongst athletes, many of them do not understand the risks involved in taking these drugs. Many people are looking for a quick way to build muscles, or to get stronger the fastest way possible. Using these performance aids may very well be a quick fix for many athletes, but taking the drugs is unethical and dangerous. Using special drugs to boost an athlete’s performance is degrading to sports and to the athlete, but after they stop using the drugs and lose some strength, you become

Throughout the history of athletics, humans have pursued new and innovative ways to construct better, faster, stronger athletes. Steroid use is one of the most popular choices among these athletes. Steroids, first created in the 1930s, are synthetic hormones that produce specific physiological effects on one's body (Center for Substance Abuse Research). Although the German scientists who discovered steroids did not intend its use for body building or creating better athletes, steroid use has developed into a controversial subject concerning the health of users and other moral issues. Overall, the use of steroids in athletics is physically and morally wrong because it essentially promotes the deterioration of the health of athletes and

Anabolic Steroids are commonly viewed as a miracle drug in order to increase muscle growth and definition, but what most users of the drug don’t know are the life altering effects that prolonged use can cause. When the drug was released in the late 50’s by scientists working for the Soviet Union, they had no idea what the lasting effects were going to be. At first the drug seemed to be almost a miracle, it helped the Soviet weightlifting team beat the American team by a long shot, but then the lifters began to experience certain bodily changes that were actually the onsets of horrendous life changing side effects that could have been prevented with further studies. Since that time, most states in North America and around have banned the distribution and use of the drug completely due to its adverse effects on the body, if caught using such drugs in professional sporting communities, it could land the athlete thousands of dollars’ worth of fines and they can even face up to five years in jail if they are found with the drug in their possession. On top of this, the risks involved can potentially alter the normal way of life for that athlete for the rest of his life, such risks include hormonal changes, cardiovascular problems, behavioral issues, and even problems with the reproductive system.

“…medical researchers believe that between 1 and 3 million youths and adults have taken anabolic steroids in one form or another specifically to enhance their looks or athletic performances,” stated Nuwer (Nuwer, 61). As astounding as these figures are, the number of performance drug users is steadily increasing. With this progressively increasing numbers, it is projected that millions more will use steroids in the immediate future (Newer, 61). Athletes have always sought an advantage in competition even if ignoring the law and their health if necessary. Using drugs of any sort to facilitate an athlete’s athletic ability should be illegal. The use of performance enhancing drugs is not only detrimental to the user but it also creates an

Today in the athletic community, young and old, everybody is trying to trump their competitors by getting the edge over them wether its running faster, jumping higher, lifting more weight, or just simply performing better overall. However some of these athletes are after the same end goal but they are taking a different path to get there. Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) are becoming more and more common among younger athletes these days. There has been much talk with doctors, coaches and parents about the controversy and misconceptions about these drugs and how more athletes are taking these performance enhancing drugs and how they can have many side affects, positive and negative. The goal of this paper is to state that the negative side affects out weigh the potential benefits of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS).

Nonmedical anabolic steroids are banned by most major sports organizations, yet some athletes proceed to use them to enhance their sports game. It may help them now, but in the long run it it causes serious physical and psychological problems. Both teens and adults use steroids. It’s important for

A popular short term fix leads to negative long term effects. “Anabolic steroids work differently from other drugs of abuse; they do not have the same short-term effects on the brain” (Anabolic Steroids). Steroids are boosts of testosterone that can be prescribed by doctors for patients with disorders with their muscles. Some athletes abuse them for higher performance results. Although using steroids is a fast way to gain muscle, they should be taken only for medical use, due to their harmful effects on the human body, the mental health of the user, and they are addictive.

The issue over steroids and other performance enhancer drugs has been a recent topic in the sports world. The debate over whether or not to punish those who have been caught using has been a major topic recently, as well as the legalization of these drugs. When arising the question of whether or not to legalize steroids, many positive and negative factors are brought to the table, and in effect could change various aspects of our normal day lives.

The Negative Impact of Anabolic Steroids on Humans In the YouTube video “The Man Whose Arms Exploded”, a man by the name of Greggory Valentino goes through a traumatic experience of his bicep practically exploding. Gregg went through a thirty-year body building journey and after twenty-three years of training naturally, he turned to steroids. Gregg believed that “performance enhancers”, also known as steroids, were the only way to become first. He was in the Guinness Records for world’s biggest biceps, therefore he was considered a minor celebrity in the United States.

It is impossible for researchers to design studies that would accurately test the effects of large doses of steroids on athletes, because giving participants such high doses would be unethical” (performance-enhancing drugs: know the risks, pg. 2). This further supports that athletes misuse steroids, not only because they are illegal and prohibited, but because they are taking doses higher than prescribed. By taking higher doses there is no way to really know the negative effects that may come with it, because very high doses of steroids has not been very well studied. In addition, the Mayo Clinic states, “Taking anabolic-androgenic steroids to enhance athletic performance, besides being prohibited by most sports organizations, it’s illegal. In the past 70 years, more effective law enforcement in the United States has pushed much of the illegal steroid industry into the black market. This poses additional health risks because the drugs are either made in another countries and smuggled into the U.S. or they are made in clandestine labs in the U.S.” (performance-enhancing drugs: know the risks, pg. 3). The reader can see from the information above that steroids are illegal and prohibited for the use of athletes. It also helps the reader see just how dangerous these drugs are because law enforcement has pushed the steroid industry into the black market where they do not have to meet government

In the past three decades, steroids has been becoming a serious problem more than ever in the athletic field. Steroids are anabolic drug "to build" growth hormones that include the androgens (male sex hormones) principally testosterone and estrogen and progestogens (female sex hormones). Steroids were first developed for medical purposes. They're used in controlling inflammation, strengthening weakened hearts, preventing conception, and alleviating symptoms of arthritis and asthma. Unfortunately research has shown that steroids have been abused in almost every kind of sport. Although steroids contribute to a muscular body, usage should remain illegal because they physically deteriorate and mentally destroy the body.

In today’s society, athletes are revered as heroes. There is immense pressure to be the best. Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to gain an edge, even if it means compromising their health. For almost three decades, athletes have been supplementing their strength program with anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. To be sure, anabolic steroids are effective supplements to strength training programs, but there is no doubt that the consequences can be deleterious.

In today’s society in athletics, muscle mass and strength seem more important than in years past. It is believed that many athletes use anabolic steroids to increase their muscle mass and also their strength. Anabolic steroids are a group of synthetic hormones that promote the storage of proteins and the growth of tissue, sometimes used by athletes to increase muscle size and strength. Before the mid 1970’s the use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) was used mainly by highly trained athletes especially those involved in weight training. Since then other athletes including those involved in recreational sports and non-competitive sports have started using the steroids. Steroids are also being used by many school age children