Although most people recognize the term “performance enhancing drugs” as a reference to anabolic steroids, the term actually refers to a wide variety of different drugs used to increase strength, commonly found in athletics. Although these drugs appear to work great at first, they damage your body in multiple ways with their many harmful side effects. Not to mention, they are also illegal to use in the United States without a prescription from a doctor. If somebody is found to have used performance enhancing drugs while playing a sport either collegiate or professionally they will be punished accordingly, usually in the form of fines, suspensions, or even expulsion from the league. Not to mention that person will now be looked down upon by their peers for the use of these drugs, as they are considered a form of cheating. Even some of the greatest sports legends can have their legacies tarnished by scandals such as the use of performance enhancing drugs.
The most common type of performance enhancing drug is formally known as anabolic-androgen steroids. Most people know them as steroids, but other common slang names include “juice” or “roids”. The usage of steroids is also known as “doping”. Steroids main function is to mimic the naturally occurring hormone testosterone. Testosterone helps cells with process of protein synthesis. As a result of protein synthesis the cellular tissue builds up, especially in muscles. Although also found in females, testosterone is found at a much higher level in males as it also helps advance certain male characteristics. Steroids were first developed in the 1930’s and have many legal medical uses. Steroids are used to help people with medical issues such as bone or muscle strength probl...
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...” will prevail eventually. Later in their life their use of these drugs will have an effect on their health. With information being available to the public about the harm of performance enhancing drugs now more than ever, there should be a drop in the amount of people abusing these drugs. The key to being a great athlete is similar to being great at anything else. There are no shortcuts; the only way to get there is through hard work, determination, and the will to be the best you can possibly be.
Works Cited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolic_steroids#Routes_of_administration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance-enhancing_drugs
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/performance-enhancing-drugs/HQ01105
http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/facts_ster1.php
http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/derek4.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Report_%28baseball%29
Anabolic steroids have become an epidemic amongst athletes since the 1950's when a Swiss company by the name of Ciba Pharmaceuticals introduced what was to become the most popular anabolic drug for athletes called methandrostenolone. “By this time, the era of the steroid athlete was well underway and world records were being shattered and re-shattered with remarkable regularity.” (Oklobdzija & Weyrauch, 1989, para 3) From then on, there have been many cases throughout professional sports where athletes are reported or caught using anabolic steroids.
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
For those who've never heard of the term PED's, Performance enhancing drugs are any supplements that are considered to allow one perform better in their respective sports ,such as anabolic steroids and HGH( Human Growth hormones). The effects of these supplements can range from expediting muscle to increasing one's stamina. PEDs began to become the center of controversy when the I.O.C set up a medical commission to oversee the fight against doping, which ultimately lead to the ban of PED's in professional sports. Stemming off from the I.O.C...
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
Anabolic Steroids have been apart of America for over half a century and continue to be a very controversial subject. I believe that further research needs to be done on steroids in order to have medical proof that can detour people from using this illegal substance or to prove that it is not harmful if used properly so that it may be made legal and people be given a choice. To understand why more studies must be done before we just put a lid on the subject many things must be made clear and free of propaganda from both pro and anti steroid speakers.
Anabolic Steroids or simply put, “Steroids”, is a medicine which has become increasingly popular in the last few decades, specifically in the world of professional sports and body building. In a literal term, the word anabolic means building of the body muscle and by using anabolic steroids, the potential user becomes stronger, sharper, larger and tougher than he would normally be. The consequences of these steroids could be much bigger to a human body and the usage of such illegal products could put an individual’s body at great risk (Haupt & Rovere, 1983).
Anabolic steroids are drugs containing, or hormone-like substances, that are used to increase strength and promote muscle growth. They were first developed in the 1930s in Europe to treat undernourished patients and to promote healing after surgery. Competitive weightlifters began using steroids in the 1950s as a way to increase their athletic performance. Use gradually spread throughout the world among athletes in other has been estimated that at least one in 15 male high school seniors in the United States--more than a half-million boys--has used steroids. Some are athletes attempting to increase their strength and size; others are simply youths attempting to speed up their growth to keep pace with their peers. In some countries, anabolic steroids are available over the counter. In the United States, a doctor's prescription is necessary.
Although steroids have many negative effects, they have many needed medical purposes. Androgens have many legitimate medical uses, such as the use for treatment of hypogonadal men to compensate for the lack of endogenous production. Anabolic steroids are also helpful for the treatment of certain adolescent diseases, some types of anemias, and for a relatively rare form of edema. Other clinical uses focus on the tissue building and anti-catabolic effects, such as in the treatment of burn victims, AIDS, or HIV positive patients, or patients malnourished from disease or old age (Bellino 1).
Every year high school, college, and professional athletes try to get just ?a little bigger,??a little stronger,? and to increase the amount of weights they lift by, ?just a few pounds.? To achieve these goals athletes often turn to anabolic steroids to aid them in achieving their goals. Anabolic steroids are a quick, but dangerous way to increase muscle mass, and they can carry many risks including some life threatening side affects. Years after taking steroids athletes can live to have serious heart problems, sterility, or possibly not even live, all because of foolish decisions they made in the past. These potentially fatal drugs are not widely known by young athletes at all, because they don?t know about the risks that can go along with them. In school, every student is taught about marijuana, cocaine,heroin, sex, liquor, and all those other health risks, but they?re never taught about ?roids? or ?juice.? (slang words for steroids) That should be changed, because it is known that student athletes often use steroids, not knowing the risks. Many times they take the risk because they hear about professional athletes taking steroids. But, despite their widespread use in sports, steroids can have more negative than positive effects on athletes of all types. Steroids are chemical substances that can be made naturally by the body or produced synthetically. There are many different types of steroids that are used for different things other than just athletes enhancing muscles. For example, there are types of steroids that can be used by women as birth control pills, and other types that are used for menopause treatment. The abuse of steroids is almost always found to be in the case of athletes, and that is the focus of this paper. ?All anabolic steroids are synthetic compounds whose molecular structure is similar to that of the natural male sex hormone testosterone. Testosterone affects development of the male body in two important ways: it has an anabolic effect - increases growth, especially of muscular and skeletal tissue - And an androgenic effect - increased development of male sexual characteristics. Anabolic steroids are constructed stythetically in such a way that they maximize the anabolic effect of testosterone while minimizing the androgenic effect.? The way that steroids work can easily be interpreted by a foo...
My issue over the concern of athletes have been struggling with the usage of steroids has widely spread among athletes and others; not only do steroids give an athlete a hard times but it’s also an unfair advantage to the other athletes and what they’ve accomplish. “Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the amount of muscle damage during the session” (“Steroids in Sports”,2005). Now a days steroids are everywhere as an athlete. Many males and female young athletes preferably take it because they want to look and feel good when it comes to impressing someone and trying to become someone they look forward too. Young teens and adults try to cheat themselves in the career of their dreams. When it comes to a sport, teen athletes are not aware of what type of consequences may happen to them at the time. It may come to the time where it’s too late to take care of. In other cases, some athletes may like feeling the aggressive they get when they take drugs such as steroids. Athletes shouldn’t take steroids as the harmful health effects of the anabolic steroid in population wise. Many people have had their lives ruined by the use of illegal steroids and yet the desired effects are overwhelming that people tend to forget about the results and consequences that may effect. Athletes on steroids believe taking steroids will enhance their performance, strength, and size without having to put necessary work. These benefits, however, are associated with much short-term and long term risk.
In sports many people think it is ok to use Performance Enhance Drugs to be the best player of all time.Performance Enhance Drugs are substances used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. For example, Bruce Irvin the defensive end with the seattle seahawks,and Daryl Washington the linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals. It is not just football players , baseball players also like, Cody Stanley from the St. Louis Cardinals. Many people use them, but the end up getting caught and suspended from playing.You are basically cheating your way to fame.People should not use drugs in a sport to become better because,These drugs have an effect on having a long term of health, could lead to overdose, and if you get caught you most
Many Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to become a professional. One of the easiest ways to enhance natural ability is through performance-enhancing drugs or, PEDs. PEDs are substances used by athletes to increase their performance. The use of PEDs in athletic competition can date back to ancient Greece. Athletes use PEDs to run faster, jump higher and recover at an increased pace. Many athletes are pressured into using PEDs by coaches or managers and are not thoroughly educated the harmful health issues that can come along with taking performance-enhancing drugs. A rising issue is if performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in professional sports. I believe that in any professional sport, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes should continue to be banned because this rule will help to keep athletes from abusing these harmful drugs.
In all professional sports in the United States, the use of PEDs are prohibited. However, there is only one acceptation to that rule. If an athlete is injured, prescriptions to certain drugs which are used in recover are allowed. These drugs may consist of certain chemicals that enhance muscle grow. Some athletes have used this to their advantage and have got prescriptions to these drugs for their own personal benefits, will other athletes are using it for recreational purposes. This, however, is not the only way to obtain PEDs; there are also other ways such as buying them from an underground market. Athletes with the intention to cheat will take the risk of using PEDs, since if they are successful they will achieve fame and money.
Many people believe that drug use in professional athletics is not a serious problem, however it is more widespread and serious than people think. In professional athletics the use of drugs is looked upon as somewhat of a serious problem, but is also very discrete and low key. Every once in a while one might see a prominent figure in a certain sport being reprimanded for the use of some outlawed drug, however this is just one of the many who happened to get caught. Athletes today seem to find no moral problem with using performance-enhancing drugs, or in other words cheating. Also many of them feel that because they are "stars" there should be no repercussions for their illegal activity.
Overall it is clear that the need to use performance enhancing drugs is outweighed by the consequences and issues caused by performance enhancing drugs. Sporting events such as the world cup, the Olympics or the World Series make young children feel inspired and encouraged about what they could achieve through dedication and hard work. I feel it is important for the sporting industry as well as the athletes to return respectability to the sport. By