Steroids

If you want to hate New York Yankees first baseman Alex Rodriguez for being a jerk, fine. He is. If you want to hate Rodriguez for being too rich, well, evidence certainly points to that being a strong possibility. But if you want to hate him for taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs as per the allegations, you had better be prepared to hate a ton of pro athletes. Performance-enhancing drugs, steroids and human growth hormone in particular, are prevalent in any sport that requires more than ordinary size and strength. Such drugs are certainly popular in professional sports. Since athletes are in the public eye, their actions can affect the children and adults for whom they serve as role models. Therefore, athletes who use performance-enhancing drugs should abide by healthcare professionals opinions while using legal PED’s. Steroids are quite common to hear about in sports. The majority of athletes have either taken steroids, been around people who have used them, or know someone who has used them. Before going into the pros and cons of legalization of performance enhancing drugs, the background should be explored. According to The Medical Dictionary, performance enhancing drugs are “an agent–eg, amphetamines, androstendione, erythropoietin, HGH, testosterone, known or thought to improve performance in a particular activity.” They are legally available but only in special cases from doctors. When a man’s testosterone level is lower than normal, a doctor may write a script for an athlete. Doctors can also prescribe them to people with problems of muscle loss. However, the dangers are out there with these drugs. Drug abuse is a serious issue with these athletes who take these drugs. It can lead to serious injury or even death. Athletes have given numerous reasons as to why they take performance enhancing drugs. Doctors, athletes, and other medical personnel have all said steroids can be helpful. According to Rejeski, Kaplan and Manuck, steroids can increase muscle mass, strength, endurance, and recovery rates. They also improve an athlete’s performance on the field, increase muscle definition, and maintain muscle definition. What has positive effects, there are some negative effects as well. “The major side effects from abusing steroids can include liver tumors and cancers, yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids, fluid retention, high blood pressure, increases bad cholesterol, and decreases the good cholesterol” (Rejeski, Kaplan and Manuck 779). Other side effects include kidney tumors, severe acne, and trembling among other specific gender and age side effects. “Men can have shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, and increased risk for prostate cancer. However, women may experience growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or killing of the menstrual cycle, and a deepened voice” (Peterson 12). Also, in an article by Angell, Chester, and Green, a reoccurring trend in their data showed that there is a decrease in the participants relaxation properties “of both the myocardium and the vascular wall” This adds stiffness within the heart which could lead to steroid users inability to cope with stressors from their environment. Steroids may have some therapeutic value however. According to Lenehan, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of selected steroids for treating specific types of anemia, some breast cancers, osteoporosis, endometriosis, and hereditary angioedema, a rare disease involving the swelling of some parts of the body. Since steroids are mainly used to build muscle mass, it also helps those muscles to recuperate more quickly from being injured. Because of the muscle mass these athletes are able to develop, their work outs last a lot longer and can show an increased intensity in the workout. According to Peterson, athletes generally take the drugs in dosages 10 to 100 times greater than would be prescribed for therapeutic purposes. Furthermore, athletes often take more than one type of steroid at a time, a practice known as ‘stacking.’ Steroids may be taken by injection or orally.” The common phrase “roid rage” stems from the use of steroids as well. Numerous reports have come out saying users show signs of violence. According to Peterson, any athletes say they ‘feel good’ about themselves right before they display the ‘roid rage’ episodes They also suffer from paranoid jealousy, extreme irritability, delusions, and impaired judgment stemming from feelings of invincibility.” Obviously, this is not a normal act portrayed during a typical day. In the court system there have been numerous cases that show steroids can be and were a factor in it. In 2009, a study was done at Tanta University on rats and steroids. It showed “severe ischemic degeneration of the cardiac muscle fibers with obvious inflammatory infiltrations. It is likely that this could be the cause of fatal arrhythmias in athletes who use AAS.” By examining these steroids on animals, scientists were able to conclude that individuals who consumed these steroids were hurting themselves and were causing their own deaths by ingesting. Just like any other drug, performance enhancing drugs can be hard to quit and become a dependence for some. Wrestler, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, displayed suicidal symptoms in 2011 because of steroids. He ended up having extensive heart damage because of these steroids and ended up dying in his car in an accident because of the side effects. There are quite a few documented cases of successful suicide in athletes. No matter how many side effects people see or experience, they decided to still put the needle in their body. You can either inject the steroids with a needle, orally taken, or rub them into your system through a cream. Injecting these steroids can hurt though so, athletes need to be careful while doing this. Steroid testing has been criticized in the last few years quite heavily with all of the positive tests of athletes coming out lately. From talking to numerous people, the conclusion has been made that more people will be in favor of stricter steroid testing because of all of the lies that are spewing out of athletes mouths. Fans want fair competition. When Barry Bonds broke the single season home run record, everyone was ecstatic for him. A few years down the road, come to find out he was taking steroids the whole time. No one wants to see records being broken by cheaters. There are a few reasons as to why players should be tested for performance enhancing drugs, but the most important should be because of their health and the issues that potentially come with them. Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association, which is a group of players currently playing in the MLB, established a program called “the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. This program aimed to keep steroids and other performance enhancing drugs out of baseball. According to an MLB press release on MLB.com, the recent outings of current baseball players the MLB has proposed it strengthen its drug policy by: • Adding hGH blood testing during Spring Training, during the off-season, and for reasonable cause. The parties also agreed to study expanding hGH testing to the regular season. • Increasing the number of random tests during the season and off-season. • Modifying the Collection Procedures of the Program to clarify when collectors must deliver specimens to the courier, and how specimens should be stored prior to delivery to the courier. • Modifying the Appeals procedures of the Program, including the circumstances under which procedural deviations will result in the invalidation of test results. • Creating an Expert Panel of recognized ADD/ADHD experts to advise the Independent Program Administrator ("IPA") on Therapeutic Use Exemption ("TUE") applications for ADD/ADHD medications, and another expert panel of medical professionals to advise the IPA on TUE applications for other medications. • Strengthening the protocols for addressing use by players of drugs of abuse. • Permitting public announcement of the specific substance that resulted in a player's positive test result or discipline. • Making players who are suspended for violating the Program prior to the All-Star Break (including during Spring Training and the preceding off-season) ineligible to be elected or selected for the All-Star Game. • Establishing a protocol for evaluating and treating players who may suffer from an alcohol use problem or who have engaged in off-field violent conduct. • Clarifying the rules for violations for use or possession of prohibited substances based on evidence other than positive test results ("non-analytical positives.") • Increasing the penalties for criminal convictions for possession or use of drugs of abuse (including stimulants). They have put this in place mainly because of Ryan Braun, the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder, who was recently found guilty of testing positive for steroids. Testing for performance enhancing drugs varies from league to league. It is become more routine today though. Most professional team try to use the same tests to try to detect the banned substances. Some of these tests can cost as much as two hundred dollars a player. The process is pretty simple. Every player brought in for testing has to give a urine sample to the administrator. “Urine is used because it is a bodily fluid that can be obtained with minimum discomfort and it contains significant amounts of banned substances for days after they are ingested” (Yesalis and Barhke ). A portion of each sample is passed through an instrument called a thin-layer chromatograph. Different substances flow down a glass plate at different rates, according to how they interact with its specially coated surface. Technicians then can isolate and identify many different substances. There is also a gas chromatograph. This devise vaporizes the urine, then combines it with chemically inactive gas, and finally passes the combination over a chemically treated column. This separates the urine into different components. After the gas has dissipated, technicians decipher the colorations left on the column to determine if any banned substances are present. A couple examples of professional athletes that use steroids outside of baseball Lance Armstrong and Arnold Schwarzenegger, The best known case of one of the first steroid uses is Lyle Alzado. He was a defensive end for the Bronco and had an inoperable brain tumor that had him only a shade of his former self to his family. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, he blamed years of heavy use of steroids and human growth hormones, and his epic collapse left people wondering if he is just the beginning of a wave of future cancer victims. Alzado said about 75 percent of the NFL players he faced were on steroids. Before Alzado died, he needed help walking around and was seen wearing a bandana to cover baldness from having cancer. Alzado took steroids for almost twenty years. This prolonged use killed him. Alzado wrote, "If you're on steroids, stop. I should have" (Reilly 2). Background on different aspects of testing and history can only sway your mind so much. Now the important debate becomes why or why not should we legalize performance enhancing drugs in sports. Like most drugs, steroids can be used to help an athlete with proper doctor supervision. It started in the 1950s by Dr. John Ziegler. People know he is a doctor but a lot of people do not know that he was a weight lifter. When he was at a competition, he talked to a trainer of a rival who said he had discovered a ‘miracle drug’ (which was anabolic steroids). So, when Ziegler came back to the United States, he gave scripts to his patients to use them as well. While watching some of his patients suffer from these steroid abuses, he decided against prescribing them again to anyone. Right before Ziegler passed away he said he wished he had never heard of steroids (Houlihan 103). Now that we know performance enhancing drug use is increasing, people find themselves asking what can we do to prevent it. That is exactly what the National Institute on Drug Abuse and other organizations thought of. According to Houlihan, he National Institute on Drug Abuse has a campaign to prevent drug abuse in sports. At the University of Oregon, the trainers on staff give the players personal lectures on the effects of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, show other things they can do to prevent pain and show them different exercises they can do to strengthen their cores and become less reliant on the steroids. Critics are scared that these athletes, especially in college, are not totally up to date on the negative effects these can have on their bodies and that giving them this information should help them in the future when they have not come across that choice of whether or not to try these drugs. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, among others have shown that steroids do do wonders to your body and can help in your workouts. Between those four alone, they have broken or were on pace to break every homerun record that was standing at the time of their illustrious home run moments. Unfortunately, they think that it is worth getting in trouble over and getting ridiculed the rest of your life. Also, they might not be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Now, current players are subjected to long periods of suspension. Sadly, it can ruin your public perception as well. After McGwire, Sosa, Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds broke their home run records, whether it be league records or personal records, they were always perceived as cheaters from then on out. Their lives were never the same and were constantly lying to Congress trying to prove their innocence. Whether a person believes that steroids are worth the risk or not, there will never be a unanimous answer to it all. There are more than enough examples throughout sports history to say some can be good and some can be bad. Some people will defend taking steroids and some will say they are not right but there are numerous reasons as to why they should be legalized. The main reason why performance enhancing drugs should be legalized is because they are already abused. According to Yesalis and Barhke, Australian physicians claimed steroids should be legal and monitored by doctors because “danger is not a deterrent to use, citing alcohol, and hard drugs as an example.” By monitoring players taking these drugs, the doctors could possibly prevent substance abuse. If those danger levels could be decreased, steroids should be legalized. By taking away that level, it would make the athletes not want the drugs so much because they could be able to take it at their convenience. If these drugs were legalized, these athletes would not take them as much because it is not an advantage as much and it would be monitored. In the article, “Anabolic Steroid Use: Patterns of Use and Detection of Doping,” they mention that we should create Olympic Games filled with athletes on performance enhancing drugs to have a level playing field under medical watch. The athletes can take as much performance enhancing drugs as they would like and would be under doctor supervision. By doing this, they say that they could conduct research and minimize the risks to the participants. Government regulations are huge in determining whether or not a product is safe. If performance enhancing drugs were legalized, it would be a safe product. Players could be monitored by their own doctors or in house doctors on their respected ball clubs. Doctors could control the sizeable amount that the athlete would take and watch after the player to see any side effects. Over intake is a major problem with any drugs whether it is steroids or another one. Some players do not know the full details of dosage for these steroids and by legalizing them it would prevent from an accidental overdose by the athlete. But, performance enhancing drugs are illegal and players can take whatever dosage they want. This can result in death because of improper knowledge of the drug and should be taken very seriously in this instance because the athlete is not properly educated on the dosages or health effects. Education can go a long way with a person and that is why performance enhancing drugs need to be legalized. Some steroids are not hard on the body but being uneducated might haunt the user because of it. Every debate has its pros and cons lied within them. While there are plenty of opposing viewpoints towards not legalizing performance-enhancing drugs, there are some that support this legalization. First and foremost, athletes should be given the choice of taking performance-enhancing drugs. Every player has a freedom of choice. Some athletes would want to take these drugs to enhance their skills and performance levels and who are we to say they can or cannot. We as fans do not realize that the athletes are hurting no one but themselves. Every athlete is capable of making their own decisions and that is why they would have doctors helping them make decisions based on their expertise. There will always be long term side effects for the players who take these drugs but there are plenty of other things that have long term side effects that are still legal including alcohol and cigarettes which are still legal. In “The Case for Performance-Enhancing Drugs In Sports,” Matthew Herper argues: "the most obvious solution has always been to legalize those drugs that work, and to experimentally monitor new entrants, including dietary supplements, for both efficacy and safety. Biological improvement would be treated much as athletic equipment like baseball bats and running shoes. This could improve both athlete’s performance and their health, and would be a lot better than having everybody trying whatever additive they can sneak, attempting to stay ahead of drug tests, and trusting anecdotes as a way of measuring safety and efficacy” (Herper 1). Another argument for legalization of performance-enhancing drugs asks is it good for both the sport itself and the athletes that participate in it' On one hand, the competition becomes for level. As seen with the likes of Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, they had an extreme advantage over other athletes power wise. The players going against them saw this as a disadvantage for them. Although there have been recent outbreaks of players getting caught with these performance enhancing drugs, there still are some drugs that cannot be found and the players cheating can still be ahead of the competition. Legalization would prevent uncertainty. Thirdly, legalizing performance-enhancing drugs would make the sport more exciting. We have all seen the amount of spectators the likes of Mixed Martial Arts, and the National Football League attract because of gut wrenching hits to the opponents. People love the violence, spine tingling hits, and overgrown athletes. By allowing performing enhancing drugs, people will become more attracted to the sport that records are continually broken. Lastly, the legalization of these drugs would allow the sports to be safer. Obviously, if the athletes are getting their dosages monitored by professionals, it makes this process safer. We always hear about current players and ex-players taking more than the allotted dosage. This runs the risk of overdosing and hurting themselves. Legalization helps the athletes become educated and with doctors supervising the allotted dosages, helps avoid the health risks that come alogn with the drugs. Establishing why performance-enhancing drugs should be legalized is the hard part. Now showing why they should not be legalized is the easy part. Here are the opposing viewpoints from the previously stated questions. Athletes should be given the choice to use these drugs. By allowing athletes to be able to choose whether or not they can take these drugs is saying other athletes need to take these drugs too to be able to keep up. If you have ever been an athlete, you know what great lengths one is willing to go to in order to win. In order for a short term goal to be achieved, you must risk potential long term effects from these performance enhancing drugs. Some athletes cannot make the right decisions under the pressure they face. That is why the government needs to be the voice for them and make sure they are not allowed to take these drugs. Secondly, is it good for both the sport itself and the athletes that participate in it' While growing up, we have all been told that drugs are bad in general. It is a given. By allowing performance-enhancing drugs into any sport, it takes away from why sports were originally created. Each sport has its own identity. Sports were originally made for us to use our god-given talents and not for us to take advantage of because of a needle or pill. The use of these drugs can lead to adverse health effects including all that was listed earlier in the paper. On top of these drugs health effects, they are also very addictive. If we allow performance-enhancing drugs to become prevalent in sports, it will lead to a lot of health problems for these athletes. Next, would performance-enhancing drugs make the sport more exciting' It might. Honestly, why should we risk the health of these athletes for the sake of the public' It is simple. We should not let the enjoyment of the fans triumph over the safety of the athletes. Finally, the last question to respond to is does this make the sport safer' Change is inevitable. The current testing programs established throughout the sports are not perfect nor ever will be. With more research, testing, and funding however, it could improve our chances of fighting against performance-enhancing drugs. We all think that steroids are turning players into freaks of nature. However, they are freaks of their own nature. They are able to jump over other human beings, throw a 100 mile per hour pitch into a specific spot, and do other things we can only dream of. There is a reason to at least think about legalizing steroids now. Instead of banning these drugs, we should control and regulate them.