Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) plague professional sports leagues as an ongoing controversial issue. Whether an athlete is trying to deal with the wear and tear on their body from professional sports, or is simply using them to gain an advantage against the competition, PEDs are very prevalent. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Lance Armstrong all excelled in their respective sports, but all of them were also found guilty of using PEDs.  As a result, these player’s names and accomplishments will always be tarnished by their wrong doings. Performance enhancing drugs are illegal in sports because of ethical reasons, and since they are unregulated, certain PEDs can have harmful effects on the human body if used in excess or incorrectly.  With this being said, through regulation and open mindedness, performance enhancing drugs can become safer and increase the potential of professional athletes, therefore increasing the entertainment value of sports.  

There are two types of PEDs, anabolic and androgenic. Anabolic PEDs promote muscle building and recovery, and androgenic PEDs help build masculine traits such as increasing testosterone (Mayo Clinic).  Both of these types of drugs are banned in major sports leagues.  They also have many side effects, some as serious as strokes and heart attacks. It is easy to understand why these drugs are banned, but PEDs have been used by athletes since the 1960s and there are no signs of PEDs use slowing down. Beyond just anabolic and androgenic, PEDs can include steroids, stimulants, human growth hormones, and diuretics. Steroids help build muscle mass, which is beneficial because athletes can train harder and recover faster from hard workouts and games. Stimulants increase alertness, and human growth hormones are taken to improve endurance. Stimulants are also used to treat ADD and ADHD, as they can help one focus more easily.  While they are used as prescribed, many people who are not prescribed them will take them in order to get more homework done or any work done faster.  They are used by athletes to get more exercise in a shorter amount of time, and allowing them to build more muscle without feeling as tired, since it is similar to drinking a large amount of coffee.  They will be able to increase their speed much easier.  Some athletes also use diuretics to mask other drugs in urine tests and lose weight rapidly, possibly to meet a weight class (CNN).  This is also because the use of most of these drugs is illegal, so they will use diuretics to cleanse their system of any drugs so they do not get caught.  If Performance Enhancing Drugs were legal, this would not be a problem, as sports would be more exciting to watch because everything would be more intense.  Therefore, regulation of Performance Enhancing Drugs would add to the excitement of sports because they would increase the entertainment value due to what they could achieve while using them.

With regulation, Performance Enhancing Drugs can become safer which will therefore increase the entertainment value of sports. One article claims that these drugs should not be legal claiming, “Performance-enhancing drugs have side effects that can harm the health of athletes and should be prohibited. Athletes who take these drugs are risking their health, lives, and careers because many of these side effects are serious and even fatal” (Cross 5).  This claims that Performance Enhancing Drugs should not be used in anything sports related, however, it is only touching on excessive use of the drugs.  If they are used in regulation if they were to become legal, they would be much safer, and therefore increase the entertainment value of sports because they will become more interesting to watch because athletes will be able to safely become stronger.  Another article from the United States Anti-Doping Agency claims, “Simply put, PEDs have the ability or potential to drastically alter the human body and biological functions, including the ability to considerably improve athletic performance in certain instances” (USADA).  This shows that Performance Enhancing Drugs have the ability to change the way the body works and can provide a benefit to improve performance in certain instances.  A certain instance can be if these drugs become regulated legally, which can safely allow athletes to become stronger, which will then increase the entertainment value of sports because more people will want to watch sports if the athletes will be able to achieve more. With that, a research study done on athletes tested what happened to them when they had too much steroids in their system.  They found that Performance Enhancing Drugs, “can have significant adverse side-effects if taken in enormous quantities. The dosages of these drugs that world-class athletes ingest, without medical supervision, is usually many times the recommended medical dosage” (Yee 35).  This shows that there are many negative effects to using high amounts of Performance Enhancing Drugs, however, that this is solely because the amounts that professional athletes ingest is multiple times the suggested amount, showing that they are clearly not regulated illegally.  If they were to be regulated legally, they would be much safer which would then increase the entertainment value of sports because more people would want to watch them with the increased ability of athletes.  In addition, former Major League Baseball player Jose Conseco stated, “I don’t recommend steroids for everyone…but for certain individuals, I truly believe, because I’ve experimented with it for so many years, that it can make an average athlete a super athlete. It can make a super athlete incredible” (“Topics”).  This quote shows that a famous athlete claims that steroids can be beneficial if taken in the short run.  This shows that using them regulated safely will allow athletes to become even better, which will therefore increase the entertainment value of sports because more people will want to watch them if they become legal and regulated, because more people will be using them as well.  Therefore, Performance Enhancement Drugs will become safer if they are regulated, which will then increase the entertainment value of sports.

In addition to becoming safer, with regulation Performance Enhancing Drugs will increase the potential of professional athletes, and therefore increase the entertainment value of sports.  One article claims, “studies have shown that Adderall and related drugs can help improve hand-eye coordination, acceleration, and strength, which athletes could benefit from in addition to improved focus and concentration” (“Topics”).  This claims that athletes could benefit from Performance Enhancing Drugs because they will be able to accomplish more during a workout.  This will increase the potential of professional athletes because if they can accomplish more during a workout, then they will be able to accomplish more in their career.  This will then increase the entertainment value of sports because more people will want to watch athletes accomplish even more than before.  Another claim is that, “the player would have still reaped the benefits of using the drugs, such as increased strength, stamina, etc., for a considerable amount of time after he was stopped taking them” (Yee 21).  This shows that even after stopping the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs, athletes will still have the benefits that stem from their use.  This will then increase the potential of athletes and they will also be able to achieve more, which will therefore increase the entertainment value of sports because more people will want to see athletes achieve even more than they could’ve previously.  Therefore, with regulation Performance Enhancing Drugs will increase the potential of professional athletes and will therefore increase the entertainment value of sports.

Not only will regulation of Performance Enhancing Drugs make them safer and increase the potential of professional athletes, but also with open-mindedness and a wider use, they will increase the entertainment value of sports.  Doping is used throughout all sports as shown by, “It is an issue that cuts across all sports, regardless of technology, popularity, or tradition. It affects the sports that are traditionally thought of as “muscle-bound,” such as football and body-building, but the issue has also appeared in other sports where bulk seems to be less important, such as women’s gymnastics and Olympic sledding” (Yee 2).  This shows the widespread use of Performance Enhancing Drugs throughout many other sports besides the most popular ones like baseball and football.   While this claims that the widespread use of drugs is negative, with a wider use, more attention will be brought to watching sports on television because more people will want to see the increased ability of athletes throughout all sports.  With that, Performance Enhancing Drugs have been used by a large amount of sports over time (CNN).  This shows that all athletes may benefit from a widespread use of these drugs, which will then increase the entertainment value of sports because more people will want to watch more athletes reach their full potential.  Therefore, with open-mindedness and a wider use, Performance Enhancing Drugs will increase the entertainment value of sports.

While these drugs may be beneficial, they also come with many adverse effects that suggest that Performance Enhancing Drugs should not be legalized for professional use.  One article claims, “Performance-enhancing drugs are also at odds with fair play, which is essential to all sports. Using these drugs is “cheating, plain and simple” and should be prohibited” (Cross 8).  This shows that using Performance Enhancing Drugs are considered cheating and should therefore not be regulated for legal use because sports would no longer be fair.  This would not necessarily be true, however, if these drugs were legal for every athlete to use, because then only those who use them would not have an advantage over others because everyone would have the opportunity to use them, therefore with regulation they would increase the entertainment value of sports because more people would want to watch them and cheating would not be an issue because everyone would have an equal opportunity to use the same drugs.  Another claim is that, “The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character” (Cross 8).  This claims that using Performance Enhancing Drugs sets a poor example for children and that they should not be inspired to use them because of the negative health effects that come with the use of drugs.  While this may have some truth, children would be more inspired to train to the best of their ability which would allow them to gain more potential as an athlete and therefore increase the entertainment value of sports because more people would be interested in it.  While these drugs have many adverse effects, however, the benefit of being helped in sports may outweigh the negative effects that Performance Enhancing Drugs come with. 

Overall, with regulation and open-mindedness, Performance Enhancing Drugs can become safer and increase the potential of professional athletes, therefore increasing the entertainment value of sports.  This is relevant in sports in everyday life because legalizing Performance Enhancing Drugs will effect all sports if athletes are allowed to use them.  This may also help with addictions to other drugs because it may decrease the demand for illicit drugs if these Performance Enhancement Drugs become legal, because less people will want to do drugs if they become legal for athletes to do them.  This is because most people become addicted to drugs solely because they want to try it because of its legality.  Therefore, legalizing these Performance Enhancement Drugs will help many other sports and drug issues that persist in our world today.
