Steroics In Sports

For the past many years, steroids have played a major part in the outcome of sporting events. One of the largest effects that steroids have had is the number of home runs in baseball. In the last eleven years, the home runs in baseball have drastically risen, from only eighteen fifty or more home run seasons, to nineteen in the past eleven years (Wikipedia). High School events are affected by steroids as well. I've heard several high school athletes talk about how they had used steroids and now they were "better". Steroids are a major problem, from professional sports, to high school students wanting to be stronger; and it is a problem that must be dealt with.

Today, there are laws that prohibit the distribution of steroids to minors. However, 18.1% of eighth graders, 29.7% of tenth graders, and 39.7% of twelfth graders who were surveyed reported that it was easy for them to obtain illegal steroids (ONDCP). The government needs to take action to keep steroids out of the hands of children. Whether it means requiring a license to purchase steroids or just raising the price of steroids, something must be done. Studies have shown that steroid use in children high school age and younger has declined in recent years (NIDA). Other studies have shown that although steroid use has declined in recent years, four percent of high school students are lifetime users of steroids (ONDCP). Steroids must be taken out of the hands of children and it is the government's job to do just that.

In sports today, steroids play a major part in record setting and the outcome of sporting matches. A prominent example of this is the recent influx of home runs in Major League Baseball. In a survey of major league baseball players seventy-nine percent said they believed steroids was a factor in record setting; and twenty-seven percent said that they believed steroids were a "major contributor" the number of records being broken lately (Jenkins). Some people would claim that there are other reasons for the amount of home runs being hit now. And just as the government needs to keep steroids out of children, Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, needs to keep steroids our of baseball players.

Bud Selig has often pushed aside the issue of steroids in order to make is slightly more convenient for mangers and players. Something