The Use Of Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

Submitted By dinkster
Words: 1565
Pages: 7
Open Document
Was there a time in your childhood when the backyard or bedroom felt like the biggest stage with millions of fans watching? Imagining the cameras flashing, fans screaming, and everyone was counting on you to win the game for your favorite team. You had one last chance to give the fans “watching” what they wanted to see, and every time you found yourself in this daydreamt situation you were always the hero. When athletes develop this sense of achievement, they use the success they imagined as a child to motivate them to achieve these goals in reality. Athletes develop this sense of competitiveness and will do whatever it takes to be the hero not only for their team, but also for personal achievement. Success and competition have brought a harmful strategy for both the athletes and the sports. Performance enhancing drugs, such as steroids and human growth hormone substances, have been used in athletics to do exactly what they imply: enhance performance. Performance enhancing drugs have become a norm in the world of sports, and it seems like the organizations and leagues are constantly letting their players get away with it. With sports being one of our greatest forms of entertainment in America, the use of performance enhancing drugs should be illegal and stricter forms of punishment should be taken in order to prevent the usage in the future. Performance enhancing drugs have been around for centuries. “Greek gladiators used strychnine as a stimulant to increase their ability. The Incas used coca plants for their soldiers to increase their alertness and endurance” (McCloskey 81). However, whether these drugs are being taken for energy or muscle building, they are still affecting the body in a very negative light. In time, these drugs damage the muscle tissue, which eventually causes athletes to be more prone to serious injuries. Steroids and human growth hormone substances may temporarily help an athlete’s performance, but they ultimately lead to dangerous side effects. Athletes may be striving for that competitive edge when using performance enhancing drugs, but they are also setting their bodies up for liver damage, clotting disorders, heart attack, strokes, weakened tendons, and many more life threatening results. One of the first known fatalities occurs of these performance enhancing drugs involved Lyle Alzado, a defensive lineman for the Denver Broncos. Alzado used natural growth hormones in order to be on top of his game. However, his body could not handle this drug, and a brain tumor formed. After fighting brain cancer for a few years, he passed away in 1992. In an interview for Sports Illustrated he said, “I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We're not born to be 300 lbs. or jump 30ft. But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better.” (Airoso). Like many, Alzado was blindsided by the dangerous effects the drugs had on his body and allowed the passion to succeed overrule his body’s health.
Although performance enhancing drugs have been around for a long time, they did not become an important concern until the late 1980’s. “Due to this increase of issues, the NFL started testing players for performance enhancing drugs in 1987, but decided against punishing players” (Airoso). Since punishment was not something to worry about, the amount of players taking part in performance enhancing drugs continued to increase. For baseball specifically, over 80% of players are thought to be on steroids. It is statistics like these that have caused the past five years of Major League Baseball to be considered the “Steroid Era”. Although studies continue to come out on the damages these drugs have on your bodies, athletes still are blindsided by the achievements and power they have when using them. Jose Conseco, a recently convicted steroid
Show More

Related Documents: The Use Of Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

Essay about Austin: Anabolic Steroid and Performance Enhancement Drugs

Performance Enhancement Drugs By: Cindy Rudder What is a Performance Enhancing Drug?  Performance-enhancing drugs are any substance taken to perform better athletically. This term is referenced often and typically refers to anabolic steroid use in sports by professional and amateur athletes. Other substances may also be taken to improve performance, including human growth hormone (hGH). (Drugfreesport.com) Human growth hormone (HGH), is available only by prescription and is administered by injection…

Words 577 - Pages 3

Performance Enhancing Drugs

While researching the use of performance enhancing drugs and its impact on individuals and society I found that this is considered a growing public health issue. Articles and other sources found while doing my research show that there is a growing concern about the ease and availability of seeking performance enhancing drugs. My goal in writing this paper is to educate individuals about the reasons why they are used and also the risks involved. I also want to state that I am not in agreement with…

Words 1864 - Pages 8

Refutation paper

Essay No Steroids in Baseball In baseball there has always been a steroid issue. In the years since 2005 the problem has expanded. Many more players are now using these drugs to boost their performance, and many feel that this is acceptable. I think that steroids are products that should be absolutely illegal and no player at any time should be able to use them. Steroids are drugs commonly classified as anabolic, androgenic and corticosteroids. Corticosteroids like cortisone are drugs used to control…

Words 1046 - Pages 5

Why Do Professional Athletes Use Anabolic Steroid?

a video game? Well, anabolic steroids are basically real-life cheat codes. Performance-Enhancing drugs can make you stronger, throw farther, or jump higher than what your body can do naturally. You might, at first, believe that this will make the sport more interesting, but think of it like this… Would you really want to know if your favorite player, or even rolemodel, was cheating? Performance-Enhancing drugs are posing a negative shadow on sports. Players who use the drugs are suspended which…

Words 560 - Pages 3

Anabolic Steroids and Its Affects on Athletes Essay

Anabolic Steroids and its Affect on Modern Athletes Developed in 1931 Anabolic-androgenic Steroids or just Anabolic Steroids have become a controversial topic among society. The word “anabolic” means growing or building which was the full intention of the development of anabolic steroids. They were first used in the early 1930’s to stimulate bone growth and enhance male sexual characterizes. In its development steroids underwent several changes and enhancements. When first developed steroids…

Words 919 - Pages 4

Should Steroids Be Allowed In Sports

using sports enhancement drugs, the question still remains - why do athletes use sports…

Words 2113 - Pages 9

Testosterone and Steroids Essay

Banning of Steroids in the World of Sports by Skylar Buss Composition and Speech II Mrs. Meade 15 March 2013 Thesis: Ever since the beginning of sports there has been different techniques used in order to gain an edge over opponents. The question that has been most frequently asked is, which of these techniques is considered cheating, and which ones are fair game? Introduction What sport it started in What other sports it went to what it…

Words 2010 - Pages 9

Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

Performance enhancing drugs have greatly impacted the world of sports. Doping is the use of a drug to boost performance in sports (Scott). Although they are illegal by law to use for athletic purposes, are not allowed in sports, and come with health downsides, there are a countless number of famous athletes who have taken performance enhancing drugs at some point. Lance Armstrong, Alex Rodriguez, and the Russian Olympic team have all used them. Even Usain Bolt used them (CNN). Athletes who take them…

Words 1639 - Pages 7

Abuse Prevention Interventions

Most of the drug abuse prevention interventions focus on tobacco, alcohol, and psychoactive substances. There are three different educational models to prevent drug abuse which are: the risk factor approach, the developmental approach and the social learning approach. The risk factor approach starts early, implemented in the early grades of school children to teach predisposing factors. The developmental approach concentrates more in the family structure. And, lastly, the social learning approach…

Words 1234 - Pages 5

Rhetorical Analysis Essay

sacrifices that these athletes make they have been able to become the best that we have to offer when it comes to physical performance. Now when it comes to progress and becoming better it seems that there is only so much we can do until evolution catches up with us. So what do we do when we reach our limits? Some say that to push the envelope we need to see where anabolic steroids can take us. There is the conception that we should simply reach new plateaus by speeding up evolution by taking things…

Words 1661 - Pages 7