Steroids in Sports

By: Brendan Marshall

The sports world was shocked when Canadian Ben Johnson was stripped of his gold medals in the 1988 Olympics after tests showed that he had taken anabolic steroids. This incident called for international attention to the fact that anabolic steroids were being used by world-class athletes to gain an advantage. Still athletes and non-athletes keep taking them. Teens are taking them not just to gain a competitive advantage in sports but to enhance their self-image by perfecting their physical appearance. The non-medical use of anabolic steroids raises more ethical and moral issues. Steroids are illegal. Users gain steroids through illicit and expensive ways. Athletes who use steroids are cheating. They gain an unfair advantage over opponents and violate the ban on steroids imposed by most major organizations (http://www.geocities.com/metupes/page.html).

Steroids are hormones. Anabolic steroids are more precisely, anabolic/androgenic steroids are also referred to as ergogenic or performance enhancing drugs. They are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, a natural male hormone. Most healthy males produce between 2 to 10 milligrams of testosterone a day. The hormone’s anabolic effect promotes retention of nitrogen, and this helps muscle growth. It helps the male reproductive system to grow during puberty, assists with the growth of body hair, and the deepening of the voice. Today, anabolic steroids are chemically manufactured. Steroids can be administered by injection or can be taken orally. Injectable steroids are longer lasting in the body and can be detected in the body for a longer period of time (http://www.drugfreesport.com/choices/drugs/steroids.html#A).

When improperly used, anabolic steroids can cause serious health problems. This includes high blood pressure, heart disease, liver damage, cancers, stroke, and blood clots. Other side effects of steroids include nausea, vomiting, increased risk of tendon and ligament injury, aching joints, headaches, muscle cramps, diarrhea, sleep problems, and severe acne (http://www.health.state.ny.us/publications/1210/).

Side effects men can get from anabolic steroids include prominent breasts, baldness, shrunken testicles, a higher voice, and infertility. Side effects women can get include a deeper voice, an enlarged clitoris, increased body hair, baldness, and increased appetite. Both men and women can experience severe acne, liver abnormalities and tumors, increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, decreased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, aggressive behaviors (rage or violence), psychiatric disorders (such as depression), and drug dependence. If an injected form is used, you’ll face a higher risk of infections and diseases that are transmitted in blood, such as HIV and hepatitis (http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/HQ/01105.html).

Steroids in high-school have become an increasingly hot topic in both the media as well as at various levels of the government. This particular topic, of course is going to be at the forefront of many high-school athletes as well as their parents, coaches, and teachers. At this juncture, I think it´s important that I be crystal clear about my position on steroid use by high-school students/athletes and minors under the age of 18 in general. I do not endorse nor condone the use of any illegal substance by minors. However, I also feel it to be absurd to carry on allowing the campaign of misinformation on anabolic steroid use to be allowed to continue. I´ve personally been out of high-school for exactly a decade, and before I began writing about performance-enhancement full time, I worked with at-risk youths in a high-school. I believe this gives me a unique perspective to provide information from, as well as a certain degree of sensitivity to the current climate regarding this issue (http://www.steroid.com/steroids-in-sports.php).

Recent evidence suggests that long-time steroid users and steroid abusers may experience the classic characteristics of addiction including cravings, difficulty in stopping steroid use and withdrawal symptoms. “Addiction is an extreme of dependency, which may be a psychological, if not physical, phenomena,” says Dr. Wadler. “Regardless, there is no question that when regular steroid users stop taking the drug they get withdrawal pains and if they start up again the pain goes away. They have difficulties stopping use even though they know it’s bad for them.” (http://espn.go.com/special/s/drugsandsports/steroids.html).

Anabolic steroids are controversial in the sports world because of the health risks associated with them and their unproven performance benefits. Most are illegal and are banned by professional sports organizations and medical associations. As seen in the high-profile cases, if an athlete is caught using steroids, his or her career can be destroyed. When it comes right down to it, harming your body or getting disqualified aren't smart ways to try to improve your athletic performance. Being a star athlete means training the healthy way: eating the right foods, practicing, and strength training without the use of drugs (http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/steroids.html).