Over the past several years in professional sports, steroids have become a huge issue.  In the 1960’s professional leagues noticed that steroids were a negative issue in their leagues. But then in 2007 steroids became a more important issue because of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) investigation (“Performance Enhancing”).  Professional athletes are competing and striving to be the best they can be because they are pressured to win and their job depends on their success. Players are using steroids to give themselves an unfair advantage over athletes who are following the rules set by their respected league.  The professional leagues are banning the performance enhancing drugs to create a level playing field for all players.  There are different policies for each sport and the commissioners are responsible for enforcing the rules on the players of their respected league.  The commissioners decide the rules and regulations for his league.  There is positives and negatives to using steroids although, most people do not realize the negatives until something goes wrong. In 2003, Steve Bechler, a professional pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles was running sprints and collapsed then the next day he died (Dunne 351).  Bechler’s cause of death was organ failure and heat stroke which was caused by ephedrine that is a performance enhancing drug (Dunne 351).  Bechler’s situation showed people that steroid use should be discouraged because of the bad health issues that are caused by the use of steroids.  Steroids can cause heart problems, tumors, liver problems and roid rage.  Also in 2003 Major League Baseball starting testing for performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).  After the MLB many other professional leagues followed their lead and starting testing as well.  Medical issues caused by performance enhancing drugs can cause an athlete’s career to be shortened.  Performance enhancing drugs should not be used by professional athletes because of the health issues they cause and the punishment athletes will receive from using them hurts their career.

In the world today there is many different definitions of doping.  The use of performance enhancing drugs is one of the definitions when speaking about professional athletes.  Steroids are a type of PED and one of the most commonly used among professional athletes.  In the article Performance Enhancing Drugs written by Jarred R. Tynes he explains to us what steroids are and what they do for an athlete’s bodies, “Anabolic steroids are synthetic forms of androgens, the male sex hormone produced in the testicles, which increase metabolism, stimulate protein production, and contribute to the growth of skeletal muscle and male sexual characteristics” (495).  Using steroids gives athletes an upper hand on other athletes that do not use the performance enhancing drugs.  Steroids help athletes become bigger and stronger more efficient by doing the same amount of training.  Tynes (2006) goes on to explain Ephedrine by saying it is a dietary supplement available as an over the counter drug and is regulated by the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (496).  Ephedrine is a dietary supplement, but there is a debate over whether if it should be treated differently because it has led to the death of many young people.  Ephedrine burns calories by boosting the metabolism of the user.  The way ephedrine helps athletes is by lowering fatigue and helping athletes control their weight.  Ephedrine works almost as adrenalin in the body because it excites the nervous system.  It can also cause high blood pressure, increased heart rate, seizures, strokes and heart attacks (Millman and Ross 551)  When using ephedrine an athlete has similar medical risk as if they were using anabolic steroids.  Another performance enhancing drug is androstenedione.  Tynes (2006) also explains androstenedione by saying that it is a natural ingredient that helps with production of testosterone, muscle growth and enhances athletic performance (497).  Androstenedione runs a lot of the same risk as illegal steroids.  Health issues caused by performance enhancing drugs can be fatal.  If women are consuming androstenedione can suffer from baldness, deepening in their voice, increase in facial hair, abnormal menstrual cycles, and an increase risk of breast and endometrial cancer (Millman and Ross 551).  These symptoms that women can experience when taking androstenedione is caused by the rise in testosterone.  When athletes are taking performance enhancing drugs they only want the positive effects, but when abusing PEDs there will almost always be negative effects.  

Professional athletes are not always aware of the negative effects that come from using performance enhancing drugs because sometimes it is their first encounter with these drugs.  The purpose of these athletes taking PEDs is to gain an advantage over other athletes, so they are pressured to be the best and they are willing to do anything to get an edge over the next guy.  By using performance enhancing drugs an athlete can actually hurt their career, because PEDs can cause medical issues that could possibly shorten or end their career.  Personally I have witnessed athletes that have taken performance enhancing drugs and almost all of them have suffered an injury.  Some of the injuries were minor, but others have been more serious.  In younger athletes there is a lower chance of suffering from serious injuries or sickness, but there is still a chance for any user of performance enhancing drugs (Serious Side Affects 2014).  Using PEDs causes weakness in ligaments and tendons and muscles are not always fully developed and that can sometimes cause injuries when a lot of stress in put on that muscle (Serious Side Affects 2014).  When dealing with professional athletes there is going to be a great amount of stress put on their whole body almost every day, because it is their job to perform or train every single day.  When there is that amount of stress wearing and tearing on the body everyday it is hard for an athlete that is completely healthy to stay healthy, so therefore if an athlete is using performance enhancing drugs the chance of them staying healthy throughout a whole professional season is highly unlikely.  Looking back on the story about Steve Bechler, pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles that passed away from medical issues caused by performance enhancing drugs shows us these drugs can cause serious health issues.  Using performance enhancing drugs can cause heart problems, tumors, liver problems and roid rage (Serious Side Affects 2014).  Medical issues that serious are usually not very possible unless the athlete is abusing the performance enhancing drug or if the athlete has been taking the drug over a long amount of time.  In the video Serious Side Affects of Steroids Steve Michalik was a steroid user for 10 years until he collapsed on stage and was rushed to the hospital.  When he got to the hospital they told him he had two tumors on his liver.  Michalik was a body builder that had been abusing steroids and that is why he had a such serious issues.  When using those substances that long and that often they will have their effects on the body.  The chances of an athlete having an issue that serious is very low if they are not abusing the substance.  There still are minor medical issues that are very common when taking any amount of any performance enhancing drug.   

Most professional athletes who use performance enhancing drugs feel that they have no other option because they need the edge that the substances will give them.  These players are playing their sport as their job and they know if they are not performing as well as their team’s owner wants them to be that they will be replaced.  Using steroids will help players gain more muscle and strength faster than they could gain it naturally.  Athletes can train the same amount as they were before using performance enhancing drugs and gain double the amount of muscle and strength that they would have in that amount of time.  Steroids will make an immediate impact on a player’s physical standpoint of the game.  Players that make impressive jumps in strength and weight are automatically red flagged.  Almost every player in professional sports that has a break out season has been put under a microscope and inspected very closely.  That does not mean every player that has a break out season is using performance enhancing drugs, but there is always a chance that they were so the league of that player will take a look into it.   That is why the players feel so pressured to do whatever it takes to gain a competitive edge, so many of them turn to using steroids.  Steroids are a quick fix for athletes, but there is always the risk of getting drug tested by your league and facing serious punishment.

The biggest decision an athlete has to make when it comes down to taking any of the performance enhancing drugs is if it is worth the chance of getting caught because with the rules and policies that the professional leagues have against PEDs are very strict and harsh.  If an athlete is caught they will be fined and suspended.  Sometimes athletes will decide that it is worth taking a chance on getting caught and even get away with using illegal substances.  There are players that have been accused of using performance enhancing drugs and never proven guilty like Barry Bonds.  When Barry Bonds was closing in on Hank Aaron’s all-time homeruns record there was many accusations made against him for using illegal substances, but he never failed a drug test.  This type of situation has happened with many professional athletes like Mark McGuire and Roger Clemens.  When accusations are made against someone that they have been using performance enhancing drugs their chances of getting into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame is highly unlikely.  There is not a rule saying that a player is not allowed in the Hall of Fame, but a player has to be voted in and accusations made against them really hurts the chances of that happening.  The way that the sport of baseball as a whole looks at the whole performance enhancing drug deal is that it is very disrespectful to the game and anyone that does it should not have the chance to receive the highest honor in baseball which is the Hall of Fame.  Knowing that any allegations of steroid use could keep me from even having a chance to be voted into the Hall of Fame would scare any ideas out of my head as I feel that it does for most professional baseball players.  The Major League Baseball Hall of Fame is really the strictest when it comes the steroid issue, but all professional leagues have their own policies for this issue.  All leagues policies differ some, but for the most part the main part of the punishments for an athlete being caught using any type of performance enhancing drug is suspension from games and fines.  With each different sport having a different amount of games obviously the suspensions will differ.  In Major League Baseball they play a one hundred sixty-two game schedule, so therefore their punishment is going to be longer than a player in the National Football League (NFL) that only has a sixteen game season.  In the article Illegal Muscle Paul A. Fortenberry and Brain E. Hoffman state the National Football League’s steroid policy “The National Football League prohibits the use by NFL players of anabolic/androgenic steroids (including exogenous testosterone), certain stimulants, human or animal growth hormones, whether natural or synthetic, and related or similar substances.” (123) The policy is saying that it is not acceptable for any player in the NFL to have prohibited substances in their system at any time, that includes the off season.  Players still have random drug test in the offseason.  When a player is drug tested they are not notified until the day of the test and they have to supply a urine sample while being observed to make sure it is there urine sample.  Also it is illegal for any of the coaching staff to encourage or supply any of these prohibited substances or they could receive punishment as well as the players.  In all the other professional sports the policies are very similar to the NFL’s.  In Major League Baseball back in 2012, Melky Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers and Bartolo Colon of the New York Mets tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and were suspended for 50 games (Smith).  A 50 game suspension takes the out of almost a third of their season.  Both of these players are very talented players and it their team took a huge blow when losing them.  When a team loses one of their key players it could ruin their season.  Melky Cabrera is one the leading hitters in the MLB every year and his team relied on him as a large part of their offense.  Bartolo Colon on the other hand is a starting pitcher, so he is not going to be playing every day, but every fifth day when he is supposed to be pitching his team will have to find someone to fill his spot that is not as good as him.  A player deciding to take performance enhancing drugs ends up effecting way more people than just that player, it affects his or her teammates and coaches and also their own family because they can not help their team if they are suspended and they are also not getting paid while they are suspended.  

If an athlete decides at any point in their career that they are going to take performance enhancing drugs and actually go through with it then they are putting their career in serious danger.  Any time an athlete takes prohibited substances they are taking a chance on getting caught.  If a player is caught using any performance enhancing drug their reputation is ruined.  A lot of the time in professional sports if a player has the reputation of being a cheater most teams if any, will not want anything to do with that player.  Using Major League Baseball as an example, if any player is ever even accused they are frowned upon because that is looked at as that player does not respect the game enough not to cheat that they should not have the opportunity to play the game anymore.  Even if a player goes his whole career using performance enhancing drugs and never is caught they are still taking a huge medical risk.  With all the different medical issues that can come from using performance enhancing drugs a player’s career could be ended or suffer severely at any time.  

Performance enhancing drugs should not be used by professional athletes because of the health issues they cause and the punishment athletes will receive from using them hurts their career.  The negatives that come from athletes using performance enhancing drugs are not worth the positives that come out of using those prohibited substances.  Using PEDs can cause death and as much as I love sports and hope to be a professional athlete someday it is not worth dying over.   

 