Steroids

The use of steroids and other illegal human growth hormones among professional sports and at the amateur level is beginning to spiral out of control. Many professional athletes are role models for younger children, this alters there perception of what steroids actually do to a person. Younger children who see professionals bigger and stronger than anyone else do not know the side effects of using this illegal drug. Steroids have also found themselves in high schools around the country. High school athletes that take steroids do not know the long term effects it has on the body. Too many athletes are injecting themselves with illegal substances to gain an edge over their opponent.

Anabolic steroids were developed in the late 1930's, but not for the intended use of putting on muscle mass. Steroids were developed to treat hypogonadism, a condition where the testes do not produce sufficient testosterone for normal growth, development, and sexual functioning (Wikipedia ). Scientists discovered that anabolic steroids could assist in the growth of skeletal muscle in laboratory animals, which lead to the use of bodybuilders, the average weightlifter, and eventually to athletes.

To all athletes, wining is everything, its what they play for, win at all costs. To ensure wining, many professional athletes turn to steroids to get bigger, stronger, and faster than their opposition. In many sports, a player is judged on how well he or she hits, runs, throws, and kicks. There is no doubt that steroids will enhance the performance and strength of a person. This will allow the athlete to preform at a higher level than their competition, and as a result they will reach their personal goal to win at any cost.

Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees has admitted in using steroids during his twelve year career in Major League Baseball. At the start of his career, he was just the average first basemen playing on an average team. He then decided to use anabolic steroids to enhance his performance on the baseball field. His statistics jumped at the end of the 1999 season proving he was the premier power hitter in baseball. In the 2000 season, Giambi won the leagues MVP award, granted to the player who proves to be most valuable to his team. This shows that steroids will help and enhance ones performance on the playing field. Speculations arose that he was using this drug when Giambi was diagnosed with a Melatonin cancer during the 2004 season. The cancer, that could have killed him, was a direct cause of the steroid Giambi injected himself with during his career. This proves the physical abuse that steroids causes on the human body, it also displays that the benefits do not out weigh the consequences because the cancer had potential to kill Giambi.

. In Major League Baseball, the penalties for using this banned substance has greatly increased in the past few years. In 2005, the new rule stated, "A first positive test would result in a suspension of up to 50 days, a second positive test a 100 day ban, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime ban from the sport. Under the previous agreement, a first positive test resulted only in treatment, and a second positive test was subject to a 15-day suspension. Only with a fifth positive test was a player subject to a one-year ban under the old plan" (Wikipedia). These harsher consequences have deterred may athletes from using this banned substance. Since the 2005 season, only fifteen major league players have tested positive for the illegal drug. The stricter rules have proven to be beneficial to the sports image and also to the overall health of the players.

United States Track and Field athletes along with the participants in the Olympics are also on the tough end of steroid policies. An Olympic athlete will receive a two year suspension for their first positive drug test and a disqualification for a subsequent offence. USA Track and Field CEO Craig Masback stated, "We support what Congress is doing to fight the battle against performance enhancing drugs" (Williams).

People who constantly use steroids have found many ill effects that come with the drug use. The most common reported side-effects were, "increased libido (61%), changes in mood (48%), reduced testicular volume (46%), and acne (43%). Gynaecomastia and abnormal liver function tests was also a common finding. Despite these effects, only 19% reported that they would not use anabolic steroids in the future. Women athletes tolerate the side-effects of anabolic steroids such as facial hair, aggressiveness, deepening of the voice, and clitoral enlargement (Kim)". Even more harmful then just taking one type of steroid, would be stacking two or more different types. Steroids can also cause tendons to stiffen and later rupture because of the stress being put on them. Steroids increase the testosterone levels in a persons body, which leads to extreme moods swings. Extreme highs can cause someone to "roid rage" and an extreme low can cause someone to inflict pain on themselves or even commit suicide. Many people who use steroids can experience these symptoms with no history of violence, "A case report described an anabolic androgenic steroids user who committed murder 3 months after beginning a regimen of methandrostenolone 30 mg/day combined with an unidentified intramuscular agent. Although this individual did not have a criminal or psychiatric history, he had displayed previous episodes of mild drunken violence and was intoxicated at the time of the murder"(Trenton). This proves a person with no history of violence can be driven to harm people when they are under the influence of a steroid.

Steroid use at the high school level is extremely dangerous and is more prevalent then one would think. Students in high school use the drug for many different reasons hoping to get ahead of their peers. A student athlete may use steroids to gain an edge over someone for an athletic scholarship in a particular sport. Adolescence's often only see the short term gains rather than long term effects. A high school student is likely to turn a blind eye on what the drug may do to them later in life because of the short term gain they may receive. "According to a survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, steroid use among high school students more than doubled between 1991 and 2003. More than 6% of 15,000 students surveyed admitted trying steroid pills or injections. At the same time, less than 4% of the nation's high schools were testing for steroids, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations' survey of athletic directors.(Livingston)". Since only less than 4% of all high schools were testing for the use of steroids it is very easy for a teen to use and abuse this drug. If high schools began testing for steroids,