Steroids: Dangerous Drugs or Necessary Performance Enhancer
Communications and Media
Introduction
Since the production of synthetic steroids, they have been useful in several different fields such as medicine. They have also however been used by athletes as performance-enhancing drugs. This has in past years proven to be a big problem with the number of steroid-using athletes growing steadily. The use of steroids has brought with it many effects both in the field of sports as well as to the individual who uses them. This paper presents an argument against the use of steroids by contrasting the disadvantages of their use with any possible positive outcomes. The danger of steroids as drugs far outweighs their usefulness as performance enhancers for athletes.
Understanding Steroids
Steroids are synthetic chemicals that much resemble certain naturally occurring compounds in human beings and animals. They have a great diversity in terms of their physiological activities and effects. Steroids were originally developed to treat various kinds of illnesses or to relieve systems of different illnesses such as certain skin ailments, arthritis, asthma, muscle-waste and some eye diseases. In other cases steroids have been developed to be used as contraceptives. Some kinds of steroids have been used to improve appearance especially in men because they are known to induce weight gain and increase muscle mass.
Effects of steroid on physical health
In recent years a debate has ensued among stakeholders concerning whether steroids should be viewed as a dangerous drug or as a necessary performance enhancer for athletes. Evidences of the negative health effects of steroids on athletes in the long run seem to suggest that the substance should be treated cautiously as a dangerous drug .among the key disadvantages of the use of steroid is its harmful effect on the human body, especially if ingested for along time. Normally steroids are taken with a doctor’s prescription, but even in such times there is always the risk of heart disease, liver disease or cancer. The use almost always results in urinary tract infections and different kind of sexual organ dysfunctions ( Matt, 2007).
In many male users steroid have resulted in testicular atrophy as well as the development of masculine features in female users. The continued ingestion of synthetic steroids causes the body to decrease its natural production of the same and results in addiction to the synthetic substances as well as many long term health defects. Anabolic steroids-the kind that is mostly used by athletes, causes long term damage to the user’s pituitary gland. Any use of steroid by adolescent athletes almost always result sin one form or another of growth or developmental retardation or excessive development.
The retention of numerous amounts of sodium and water in the body as a result of steroid use is directly responsible for the development not of chronic hypertension in most steroid users in the long run.
Long term destruction of Muscle structure
Another harmful effect of steroids is veiled in their muscle-developing effects. Many athletes take steroid for improvement of muscle strength and increase of muscle mass. It is expected that this then helps them to perform better in their sporting events and indeed they do initially. However, although the steroids build up muscle mass, they do not equip tendons and ligaments with proportionate strength to support that increase in mass. This often leads to tearing and injury of tendons and ligaments. In the long run this destroys the ability of many athletes to function well in their fields of sport. Increase in size sometimes becomes too much and the individual’s skeletal frame cannot handle it. This often results in back and spinal chord problems. It is many times apparent that the benefits steroids provide to their users in increased muscle mass and an attractive physique come at a very large risk of permanent damage to health. In many instances, those athletes that use steroids often have to end their sporting careers earlier than those who do not, as a result of the destruction of their ability to excel in those sports.
Unfair Competitive Advantage
The second most notable issue in the argument against steroid is in its provision of unfair competitive advantage to its users over other athletes who do not take them. Apart from increase of muscle mass, the use of steroid provides added strength to the muscles and increases the ability of muscles to withstand strain. This therefore enables an athlete to perform at significantly higher levels compared to those athletes who do not, regardless of the sport. This fact greatly compromises the integrity of those competitions and the credibility of results from those competitions. The use of steroids to provide an unfair competitive advantage in sports amounts to a form of cheating and is as such considered immoral.
Reputable international sporting organizations have long banned the use of steroids. In 1974 the International Olympics Committee banned the use of steroid by participants in Olympic sports (Matt, 2007). Many method of testing for steroid presence in athletes have since been developed and improved on in subsequent years. There have been several instances where athletes who have been discovered to have won their sporting events while on steroids have been striped of their medals and awards and have even been prosecuted. In many countries the use of un-prescribed steroids is illegal. This is because governments globally recognize their potential harmful effects. In 1988, Ben Johnson a track events athlete was stripped of his world titles and medals after he was discovered to have won those events under the influence of anabolic steroids.
Psychological Effects and Addiction
The use of steroid is also dangerous due to the psychological effects steroid have on its user. In many long term users steroids have been known to alter behaviour patterns and temperaments. In some users it causes increased aggression and irritability (Matt, 2007). The abuse of steroids has been known to cause serious psychological and emotional disorder such as depression. Equally notable is the fact that the shame associated with being discovered to use steroids among athletes also leads to a lot of emotional and psychological instability.
The increased vulnerability to addiction with increased intake of steroids is reminiscent of the effects of other dangerous drugs. Addiction costs the user a great deal in financial resources, emotional and psychological stability. It cages the user in a situation where they have to constantly buy and use more steroids until a time when the user’s body cannot take any more. In many cases this results in death.
Conclusion
Although the use of steroid is wildly popular, especially among young athletes, its benefits are largely out weighed by all the health and other negative effects that accrue form their use. Like other dangerous drugs such as cocaine and heroine the abuse of Steroids may seem beneficial to the athlete for a short while, but in the long run it result sin many problems, many of which the user often has to deal with for the rest of their life.
References
Matt , G.(2007).Steroids. Microsoft® Student 2007 [DVD]. Washington: Microsoft Corporation.
