Steroid Use

Steroid Use Jonathan Berrios University of Texas at El Paso

Steroid Use

Steroids are common in sports and in the gym setting, but they are an unfair advantage to the people that are not using them. Steroids will boost one like no other performance enhancing drug will. Two players could have the same exact level of skills and one may take steroids and surpass the other and that is an unfair advantage; especially in sports. For example if there is a wide receiver in football and a cornerback in football. Both may have the same exact vertical jump, same speed, same height and weight but if the receiver takes a shot of steroids he will beat out the cornerback easily with no complications that he would have with equal skills. Steroids are an unfair advantage and should not be acceptable in sports. Its a problem in sports because athletes still use them but most do not get caught. History of Steroid Use Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs have been around since 1860s. As long as there are sports for human to compete in there will always be some that want to take the competitive edge and will do anything possible to be the best; well they would do anything possible that doesnt require the hard work necessary to be the best. However, in the ancient times there were no steroids but some culture believed that eating specific things would help them tremendously. The Greeks ate sesame seeds, the Australian aborigines chewed the pituri plant, Norse warriors ate hallucinogenic mushrooms, and the ancient cultures around the world had some similar traditions too. In the 1860s a group of swimmers in Amsterdam were charged with taking drugs to speed up their swim times. For 80 years or so other athletes who have wanted to cheat, focus on drugs that will specifically speed them up instead of make them stronger or bigger. There were no reported drugs that did such thing in the 1860s though. Scientists have said that it was just in

Steroid Use

their head. They never really increased their performance by drugs; they achieved it by thinking they were faster and their body just coping with their mental state. These types of drugs didnt come along till the 1930s when the make testosterone was first synthesized. During World War II, the German soldiers were given the testosterone to increase their performance on the battlefield as well as aggression on the battlefield. In the 1940s testosterone was being used in a wide variety of sports. Although the dangers of the testosterone were not yet identified a lot of athletes still took the risk of using it. In the 1952 Olympics the weightlifting and wrestling teams from Russia demolished every other country in those sports. It was all thanks to the synthetic testosterone they got their hands on though. After those events, scientists started to work on, what is meant to be, an improved formula for a performance enhancing drug. Awareness for these drugs was not there yet. The athletes were careless about them and would abuse them. In 1958, anabolic steroids were developed by a U.S. pharmaceutical firm. Soon after, athletes had complete access to the steroids and started to see the terrifying and dangerous side effects after too much use. See figure 1 below for an example of steroids gone wrong.

Figure 1
3

Steroid Use

Starting in the 1950s and going into the 1970s, rumors and facts of performance enhancing drugs lead to an increased amount of usage. A lot of athletes thought they absolutely needed the steroids to remain competitive in their sport. For example, bodybuilders, football players, and wrestlers; which all require more of a bulk and thickness, were the first to abuse the anabolic-androgenic steroids. During the 1970s athletes that wanted speed demanded a steroid that would increase specifically that but once they discovered that there were potential benefits in the anabolic-androgenic steroids they began to use it. One thing that these athletes did know for sure was that it would help them train harder because muscles strains and tears would repair faster allowing them to most likely train just as hard the next day. Stopping Steroid Use To stop the use of steroids doctors and scientist simply have to stop making them and only make them for medical reasons when needed. Steroids in sports are self-done; athletes use them for recreational use just to get stronger, bigger, faster and more aggressive but it is unfair to other athletes that work for their strength and speed. Hopefully, one day the side effects of drugs will be knocked into athletes senses and they will stop using it. Maybe one day they will hear about and see Dan Nitro Clark from the T.V. show American Gladiator and realize what steroids will do if abused. Dan Clark started using steroids in the year 1982 at the age of 18. As a result of 20 years of steroid use, I walk with a limp, I have seven scars on my face, two destroyed knees a herniated back disk and a neck that pops like fireworks on the Fourth of July The real prizes are a pair of shrunken testicles and surgical scars across my nipples from having breast tissue removed from my chest. As you can see Dan Clark was dramatically affected by the steroids, not to mention theyre all permanent damages. Yes it gives one the

Steroid Use

competitive edge and the muscle gains and strength someone would want but they must come to their senses and think about if the results would be worth the one or two years of the glory. The possession or sale of steroids is illegal if it is not through prescription. It can lead to a minimum of one year in prison and a minimum fine of $1,000. The maximum, on the other hand is five years in prison and $250,000. If there is a third offense in this type of possession or sales the maximum time in prison and fines double. All of these offenses are federal offenses as well. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Basketball Association (NBA), National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Football League (NFL) have all banned the use of steroids because all the committees have agreed that steroids in players give them an unfair advantage. It also banned it in consideration of the health of the user due to its negative side effects and permanent damages. They do test for it by urine testing all the players but some athletes do get around it some way or another. For example, in 2013 Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids in 2003 but nobody knows how he got away with it for so long. Steroids are hard to stop using by what most athletes say. It gives one a major competitive edge, a crazy amount of aggression, and an over the top increase in performance overall. Stopping the use of steroids will be difficult because a lot of people still need steroids for medical reasons and thats where the idea of only making them when a patient needs them comes in. Another way of getting people to stop using steroids would be through persuasion. Showing the negative side effects as well as the permanent damages it causes, such as Dan Clarks case, would be a good way to embed the negatives of steroids into someones head and

Steroid Use

make them think twice about injecting themselves with the steroids. There are worse cases of negative steroid side effects and they need to find said cases and showing them to the world via billboards, websites, doctor offices, and sports shows and commercials. Any way possible to get the message across would help and there would be guaranteed decrease in steroid use. Conclusion While some athletes continue to use steroids and cheat themselves to the top there are others that work hard every day to achieve their goals and it is unfair to those who work for it. The solution to this problem is the one stated about only making steroids for the ones that need them. Not for individual sale. The negatives of steroid use need to be shown to the public and athletes a lot more than the positives. They need to put up posters, ads, news, and articles about all the negative cases of steroids; which would be ALL steroid use cases because all will have a negative effect either instantly, or in the future.

Steroid Use Reference Page

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=Iat au45vpLxQwM&tbnid=jsTsbGlhklqYkM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc. co.uk%2F2%2Fhi%2Fhealth%2F7575024.stm&ei=9bJ7UrnsCMylkQegroHoDg&bvm=bv.5614 6854,d.cWc&psig=AFQjCNHLwbpgFxpbJyKmThJnUNdoRHQExQ&ust=1383924779211716

History of Steroid Use - In The Know Zone. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.intheknowzone.com/substance-abuse-topics/steroids/history.html May, S. (2011). Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Drugs. Infobase Publishing.