Should we allow performance-enhancing drugs in sports?

“Only the most naïve sports fan can be shocked-shocked!-that drugs and athletics go together like socks and sweats.”(Sharon Begley and Martha Brant: The real Scandal in International Sport: Doping 181). How naïve are we as sport fans? Do we really think performance-enhancing drugs belong to sports? As there are a lot different methods of doping in sports; I am going to focus only on anabolic steroids, in my essay. Dealing with that issue it is important to find out how steroids work, how they are used and what the side effects are.

I will use the term "anabolic steroids" through-out this essay because of its familiarity, although the proper term for these compounds is ‘anabolic-androgenic’ steroids. The web page of the National Institute on Drug Abuse was the source of my knowledge concerning anabolic steroids, I used the provide information and paraphrased it to make it more understandable. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) web page is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services. “’Anabolic steroids’ is the familiar name for synthetic substances related to the male sex hormones (a

“Anabolic steroid abuse has been associated with a wide range of adverse side effects ranging from some that are physically unattractive, such as acne and breast development in men, to others that are life threatening, such as heart attacks and liver cancer.” (N.I.D.A. why par 12) So what is really happening in the human body? The hormonal system for example will be disrupted by steroid abuse sometimes reversible, sometimes not.

I was a naïve sports fan, believing that sports nowadays are drug free and these incredible achievements are because of a huge amount of practice in combination with some talent; maybe I was wrong. According to that I ask myself: “if everybody takes it anyways, why don’t we just legalize it?” allowing all kinds of anabolic steroids would solve the detecting problem and even better, it would make athletes be able to do huge athletic achievements; there would be a lot more world records, bigger athletes and so much more fun for spectators because of more sensations. By taxing the steroids the government could get more money for sport programs maybe even though found a doping department to discover even better substances and that way improve the cheating (doping). Wouldn’t we make the athletes better and better?

If people use anabolic steroids because of muscle dysmorphia, psychologists should help these people to see their bodies as they are. Maybe we should start a medical program, which educates coaches, especially in the field of fitness, to deal with that issue. There are too many hobby-bodybuilders who experiment with steroids. Other than that we should educate athletes about the side effects of anabolic steroids, most people don’t even know what can happen. The athletes just want to be more athletic and stronger risking their health for a sporting dream. Sometimes even Coaches suggest taking steroids because an athlete is talented but too small. Therefore the U.S. Government should pass a law to pursue them and the sport associations should ban these people for their entire life. Coaches who do that, risk the lives of their athletes; they have a responsibility for their athletes, like parents have responsibility for their children.

Other than the overdose, steroid abusers often “pyramid” their doses in cycles of several weeks. That means like a Pyramid they higher their dose until the half of the cycle and than lower the dose to zero till the cycle ends. The abusers hope that this procedure let the body have time to adjust to a higher dose. After a drug cycle they let a drug-free cycle follow believing it allows the body’s hormonal system to recuperate. Even cycling anabolic steroids like that have not been substantiated scientifically; athletes still do it not knowing the overdose can cause several side effects.

Should we create “cl

Some topics in this essay:
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