About Performance Enhancing Drugs

Performance enhancing drugs such as steroids or muscle enhancers get a lot of press when professional athletes are caught illegally using them to gain an advantage over their competitors. While these types of drugs do often make the athletes who take them score higher or perform better, they come with an assortment of health risks and ethical dilemmas.

Types

Anabolic-androgenic steroids, often referred to simply as steroids, are commonly used by athletes to grow more muscle mass and improve strength. These can be made of natural testosterone or a synthetic compound similar to testosterone, such as oxymetholone or tetrahydrogestrinone, also known as THG. Diuretics such as the drug acetazolamide dilute urine and causes an athlete to lose weight, allowing him to compete in a lower weight class. The nutritional supplement creatine is used to try and give an added boost of energy, while androstenedione is used to try and boost testosterone levels in the body and stimulants are used to boost the heart rate and reduce fatigue.

Reasons

The main reason professional and amateur athletes use performance enhancing drugs is to improve their abilities and do better at their chosen sport. The pressure to use these drugs can be intense and can come from external sources such as coaches, teammates or parents as well as from the internal drive to score the best or win medals, trophies and awards.

Dangers

Many health dangers have been associated with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. These can include damage to the reproductive system including infertility and impotence; severe acne, depression, heart arrhythmias, cramping, kidney failure and death. Aside from the health risks, athletes who are caught using illegal or banned substances may lose any medals or trophies they have won and can be suspended or banned from professional, college-level or high school sports.

Official Policies

The World Anti-Doping Agency has developed a list of banned substances that Olympic athletes are forbidden from using. Athletes are randomly tested for these chemicals and barred from competing if illicit drugs are found. Schools and athletic organizations around the world have also developed their own testing standards and policies to limit the use of performance enhancing drugs. For example, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the states of New Jersey, Florida and Texas have been randomly testing student athletes for steroids since 2007.

Ethics

While many schools and organizations emphasize the health risks of performance enhancing drugs, some also tackle the ethical issues involved. According to the BBC, organizations such as the International Olympic Committee view these drugs as unethical since they give those who use them unfair advantage over athletes who abstain. Another ethical aspect is that those who use them also contribute to the increased pressure put upon other athletes to use these drugs, since those who choose to use them typically perform better.