Performance enhancing drugs are finding their way into the lockers of athletes world-wide. Despite the efforts of governments, parents, and doctors, the demand for these athletic enhancers only seems to grow. As this effect continues it is becoming a big problem. These drugs are not only in the hands of professional athletes, but young adults and teens too. Since these performance enhancing drugs and supplements are not inspected by the Food and Drug Administration, they can prove to be extremely harmful to the health of the people using them. As a result, aspiring young athletes that are looking to bulk up and get strong are left vulnerable because they have no idea what they are putting in their bodies. For example, these teens are usually uneducated in the topic already. Now they find themselves looking for a quick fix. They see these performance enhancers as an opportunity to beat their buddy in the team bench press max. Unfortunately, the supplement they take in has a very strong stimulant; as a result, the athlete has a stroke and lands in the hospital. Luckily, in this case the teen makes it out alive, but this may not always be the case. Performance enhancing drugs can result in death! If that’s not scary enough, then what is? Performance enhancing drugs have many disadvantages that come
with their use; therefore, they must be banned to keep the lives and integrity of children, teens, and the athletic idols of the world safe.
There are a number of disadvantages that come with taking performance enhancing drugs, one of them being health risks. Using performance enhancers like steroids, stimulants, and diuretics can cause a person a lot of problems; even though, these enhancers are intended to improve athletic performance. Some of these drugs and supplements are naturally occurring, easily available and completely legal, but many are banned by sporting organizations and governments worldwide because of their affects. These enhancers can lead to psychiatric and heart disorders that could cause a stroke, heart attack, or even death! More common effects such as: baldness, deeper voice, breast tissue development, mood swings, muscle cramps, high blood pressure, dehydration, potassium deficiency, liver/kidney damage, nervousness, irritability, HIV/AIDS etc are also likely to occur. This list has many doctors like M.D. Wojtys worried, “many times when you buy something off the shelf, you don’t know what you’re putting into your body. And to me, that’s very scary”(athleticscholarships.com).
The Essay on Drug Testing Favorite Athlete
A professional athlete is one of the biggest role models in this day and time. All of his or her accomplishments has given them the lifestyle that they have always wanted. A professional athlete now has the money and fame he or she has always dreamed of having. In the past couple of years, more and more athletes seem to be getting in trouble with the law. Drugs are becoming more easier and cheaper ...
Therefore, one must ask this or herself if the benefits of these supplements outweigh the risk. This is a choice that should be clear, but to many people it is not. A person’s health is something that must be treasured. It is what keeps the body functioning. Imagine an athlete with any one of those health problems. The psychiatric effects he or she could experience could potentially ruin a career. Drugs like steroids increase a person’s irritability and aggression; therefore, affecting the mood. As a result, a person could go out and do something that they usually wouldn’t; for example, drink and drive, abuse their spouse, or get in a fight. If these problems are not enough for someone then they must go back to square one. Sports are intended to be something that someone works for. Being able to
push your body to new limits and reaching achievements based on one’s hard work. Resorting to enhancers is giving up the dream and saying that one must cheat to accomplish the task. That gives up the satisfaction that is earned behind one’s accomplishments because now he or she is not doing the work, the drugs are. These enhancers are unethical and must be put to an end to save the games people love and the people who play them.
The Essay on War On Drugs Drug People Education
Brandon Shorter Professor History 1302 9 November 2001 Since 1968, the United States has spent increasing amounts of taxpayers' money; more than $40 billion last year trying to stop drug use through the criminal-justice system. Three-fourths of federal anti-drug money goes to police, prisons, border patrol and interdiction efforts in countries like Colombia. Only one-fourth goes to prevention and ...
The era of these performance enhancers is continuing to grow. The first thing that must be done to put an end to performance enhancers is education. Education is the most important step to slowing down and hopefully ending the use of these drugs and supplements. Athletes of all ages need to realize the health effects of these drugs at a young age. Proper nutritional education would also benefit aspiring athletes. Knowing how to manage a good diet is the first thing to helping one grow. If a young athlete can eat correctly then he or she would not be tempted into to use performance enhancers. Some may argue that drug tests are the key to prevention, but drug tests are not as effective as organization first believed they would be. Players still continue to use these drugs to try to keep their edge. In an article in the New York Times one author asks “how is it that multimillion-dollar losses are not enough to keep players from using performance-enhancing drugs?”(NYTIMES.com) The answer is simple, players feel like the upside of using these drugs is bigger than the downside. They feel like taking the drugs may help them get those large contracts while not taking them will leave them unemployed. Additionally, many times these drug tests are corrupt. Officials feel that having these tests come up positive would destroy star athletes and put an end to sports. As a result, these tests are often performed so that athletes have enough time to rid their body of these drugs and have negative test results. For example, an author in this article stated that “while the organizations claim to want drug-free competition, the
image of the games, and their ability to attract lucrative corporate sponsors, would be damaged if star athletes were eliminated from competition by positive drug tests”(Speakout.com).
Therefore, as one can see there is a lot of flaw behind drug testing. However, it is still important to have an affective testing system in place to keep athletes worried of the possible outcomes, but the key to prevention is education. Educational health classes should be included into school curriculums every year. Additionally, parents and coaches of athletes should be required to attend educational courses. Educating the parents and coaches around these young athletes empowers them to see possible signs of use, which then could be used to stop these athletes. Sure schools may argue that their budgets are tight and a system would be too difficult to incorporate, but “the struggle for an education always involves a certain amount of effort and risk, but the struggle also conveys excitement and the deep, abiding satisfaction that derives from achieving knowledge of oneself and of the world”(Muller272).
The Essay on Performance Enhancing Drugs 2
Many athletes of all ages are turning towards performance enhancing drugs as a way of improving their performance by giving them that extra edge. This is not only wrong but its cheating and harmful to the athlete. Performance enhancing drugs have been around for hundreds of years. The Incas of the South America country Peru used the burned leaves of coca trees to give them great amounts of energy ...
So as one can see the outcome of educating people about these drugs would be worth all the struggles and sacrifices that would have to be made. A proper education will always be the first step to any possible prevention. However, incorporating education into just health and nutrition will not be enough, since there are still those who feel that these two things do not matter. Therefore, incorporating additional education on sport ethics will also be necessary to keep the lives and integrity of children, teens, and the athletic idols of the world safe.
The next step to educating athletes in order to stop the use of performance enhancing drugs is to teach proper ethics. Athletes need to see that using performance enhancing drugs is unethical and is seen as cheating. By using a drug to help ones performance he or she gains an unfair advantage. No one says it better then Michael J. Beloff “The objects of doping control are
clear. The essence of a sporting contest is that it should be fairly conducted, with the competitor’s success or failure being the result of natural talents: speed, skill, endurance, tactical awareness – honed, it may be, by instruction, training and body maintenance in its widest sense. The much used metaphor – a level playing field – derives from sport. The use of drugs violates all such notions of equality: the drug taker starts with an unfair advantage. Success becomes the product of the test tube, not the training track. The interests of innocent athletes need protection by punishment of the guilt”(Procon.org).
Therefore, it is clear that by taking these drugs athletes are engaging in cheating. Cheating is something that will never be accepted by people. Morally and ethically people are always taught to do the right thing. Taking performance enhancing drugs is definitely not the right thing. As a result, it can really ruin an athlete’s image along with his career. Educational classes for parents, coaches, and athletes would help them realize that using these drugs is really frowned upon and could ruin dreams. Take for example Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees star player who recently admitted to using steroids. He now may never be inducted into the baseball hall of fame where he easily could have been if he had never used steroids. However, Rodriguez does promise to engage in educational courses for young athletes. That is something that all professional athletes should do because it would help young aspiring athletes see firsthand what performance enhancing drugs could do to one’s career.
The Term Paper on Should athletes be allowed to take performance enhancing drugs?
... danger. That explains why athletes, sports people and body builders turn to performanc enhancing drugs. What are performance enhancing drugs? The use of performance enhancing drugs by athletes has become a common ... in sports is like cheating in exams, some people argue that athletes should be allowed to use performance enhancing drugs as the limits of human performance has ...
In conclusion performance enhancing drugs and supplements are never the way to go. They will ruin careers, dreams, and possibly lives. Therefore, people need to start educating the youth of today about the dangers and affects of these drugs by incorporating proper nutrition classes, health classes, and ethics classes. By educating athletes from a young age maybe we can
turn this drug crazy era of sports around and save the athletes and sports we love to play and watch.