Steroids In SportsEssay Preview: Steroids In SportsReport this essayPerformance Enhancing Drugs in SportsOver the last twenty years have you noticed how much bigger and faster athleteshave become. Many athletes are under pressure to perform and turn to performance enhancing drugs despite their negative effects on the body. Why are athletes using performance enhancing drugs? Is it fame, fortune, or is it they just dont want to give up the game and at what price are they willing to pay to play there sport.
In professional sports today an athlete can make an enormance amount of money. The contracts that are offered to the top athletes today can be over one hundred million over the life of the contract. There are also endorsement deals; every company wants a high profile athlete to represent them. These companies will pay a lot of money for the right person. “When Michael Jordan signed his first contract with Nike in 1984, it was for $2.5 million over five years” (AP May, 2003). In May 2003 LeBron James signed a $90million contract with Nike.
For some athletes its all about wining. They may measure there career in championships. In almost every sport there are annual awards given out to the top athletes. There is also a Hall of Fame for the best of the best in there sport. For an athlete to receive one of these awards they need to be in top physical condition to excel and master there sport. In other cases some athletes just want to play forever. Bobby Hull played professional hockey in 5 different decades. Ricky Henderson played professional baseball for 28 years.
There are many types of performance enhancing drugs being used today. Anabolic Steroids were developed in 1939 to treat conditions such as eunchoidSteroids in sports 3Syndromes, impotence, depression, starvation, and chyptorchidism ( Dhar, Stout, Link, edal, 2005, p1307). Athletes use anabolic steroids because they encourage new muscle growth. They also allow athletes to train longer and harder. Anabolic steroids include: Testosterone, Dihydrotesterone, Androstenedione (andro), Clostebol, Nandrolone. These steroids can be injected or taken in pill form. There are many well known side affects, including: Jaundice and liver damage, steroids are normally broken down in the liver. Mood swings, depression and aggression, because they act on various centers of the brain (Ferudenrich, 2005, p2). In males steroids can interfere with normal sexual functions, and can cause, baldness, infertility and breast development. In females steroids can stimulate hair growth on there face and body. Thicken the vocal cords, which causes the voice to deepen, and could be permanent. Suppress or interfere with there menstrual cycle, possibly leading to infertility. If pregnant, could hurt the fetus.
Some athletes use performance drugs to mask the pain so they can play tomorrow. Some of these drugs include narcotics, protein hormones, cortisone, and local anesthetics. Narcotics are used to treat pain and include morphine, methadone and heroin. All of these drugs are very addictive. These drugs can harm the athletes because they cant feel themselves hurting themselves more. Protein hormones are important for reducing inflammation and allergic responses (Ferudenrich, 2005, p4). Some of the side affects are ulcers, mental irritation, and can cause weakening bones and muscle. Some athletes are using local anesthetics such as Novocain, porcaine, lidacaine the biggest problem is the athlete will not feel the pain and could do further damage to themselves.
Marijuana: “All players use marijuana for health, for fun, and for a better life. I think it’s healthier for the brain and for both the athlete and the drug user to be comfortable with the effects of marijuana and avoid or limit use of marijuana. Some of the top players [player, athlete, athlete and player] have used marijuana for life. Some of those don’t anymore, yet many of the top players used marijuana to make their lives better. And that’s why I was so skeptical about the dangers of marijuana. In fact, some may say the real dangers involve kids, but that is only part of the story. I will address the issue I see, this kind of “drug use” that’s taken over an entire sport and has been for decades.
Molly
Molly was actually a member of the National Women’s Hockey League, and she was only 12 years old when she used a game-changing drug to treat a major depressive disorder. In the 1990s, Molly and her parents were arrested and charged with her participation in a football game where she was playing with her boyfriend. In a criminal case, Molly was charged with two charges of possession of marijuana when she was 15. She could plead to a few counts at trial where she could spend up to 20 days in jail for the offense. Molly was also arrested and imprisoned for six years for marijuana possession, as well as the charges related to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. There she was released just over a year ago. Her family now believes she would still have legal recourse if she did commit the offense, and even she was convicted for two more charges. In a 2013 article on Molly, I wrote that Molly could have spent up to 10 days in jail to get to the point where she could have an opportunity to testify in her own defense.
Some say her time in this position helped her heal, but I will say that this was an extremely traumatic time for those in her early 20s. After all these years with Molly, I think it should be pretty obvious that her ability to speak up was an asset to her. At 18, she was finally able to start a small and independent nonprofit with the hope that one day, her life might change the way she handled her problems. Molly also became a member of the National Women’s Hockey League, and has recently joined it as the league’s chief medical officer. In the last 10 years, Molly’s experience shows us that she has a tremendous resilience to stress. At this stage of her recovery, we are still seeing some of the things about her life that we see in the media. Molly was arrested, locked in a cage, and charged the first time a marijuana use charge occurred. During my time in the league, it was not uncommon for a minor player to be charged with drug use while in the league. In 2009, an NFL spokesman said that it was common for a player with a criminal record
Marijuana: “All players use marijuana for health, for fun, and for a better life. I think it’s healthier for the brain and for both the athlete and the drug user to be comfortable with the effects of marijuana and avoid or limit use of marijuana. Some of the top players [player, athlete, athlete and player] have used marijuana for life. Some of those don’t anymore, yet many of the top players used marijuana to make their lives better. And that’s why I was so skeptical about the dangers of marijuana. In fact, some may say the real dangers involve kids, but that is only part of the story. I will address the issue I see, this kind of “drug use” that’s taken over an entire sport and has been for decades.
Molly
Molly was actually a member of the National Women’s Hockey League, and she was only 12 years old when she used a game-changing drug to treat a major depressive disorder. In the 1990s, Molly and her parents were arrested and charged with her participation in a football game where she was playing with her boyfriend. In a criminal case, Molly was charged with two charges of possession of marijuana when she was 15. She could plead to a few counts at trial where she could spend up to 20 days in jail for the offense. Molly was also arrested and imprisoned for six years for marijuana possession, as well as the charges related to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. There she was released just over a year ago. Her family now believes she would still have legal recourse if she did commit the offense, and even she was convicted for two more charges. In a 2013 article on Molly, I wrote that Molly could have spent up to 10 days in jail to get to the point where she could have an opportunity to testify in her own defense.
Some say her time in this position helped her heal, but I will say that this was an extremely traumatic time for those in her early 20s. After all these years with Molly, I think it should be pretty obvious that her ability to speak up was an asset to her. At 18, she was finally able to start a small and independent nonprofit with the hope that one day, her life might change the way she handled her problems. Molly also became a member of the National Women’s Hockey League, and has recently joined it as the league’s chief medical officer. In the last 10 years, Molly’s experience shows us that she has a tremendous resilience to stress. At this stage of her recovery, we are still seeing some of the things about her life that we see in the media. Molly was arrested, locked in a cage, and charged the first time a marijuana use charge occurred. During my time in the league, it was not uncommon for a minor player to be charged with drug use while in the league. In 2009, an NFL spokesman said that it was common for a player with a criminal record
Steroids in sports 4On occasions athletes may need to control there weight. “They use diuretics which are commonly prescribed to treat high blood pressure and are often found in diet pills” (Ferudenrich, 2005, p4). The possible side affects include dehydration, dizziness, cramps, heart damage and kidney failure (Ferudenrich, 2005).
Some athletes need that quick boost of energy so they use stimulants. “They are used to help the athlete stay alert, reduce fatigue, and maintain aggressiveness. They act on the body to make the heart beat faster, the lungs breathe faster and the brain work faster. These stimulants include caffeine, amphetamines, cocaine” (Ferudenrich, 2005, p4). The possible side affects are nervousness, shaking, irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, and even sudden death. Ephedra can now be added to the list of performance enhancing drugs. Ephedra was in almost every diet on the market. Such as Andro-Xtreme, Hydroxycut and Trim Fast just to name a few. Ephedra is now banned in all over the counter diet pills. The side affects are the same as a stimulant.
Marijuana: (from his website) “Marijuana is a drug that makes the body more efficient at using energy to improve stamina, performance, memory, creativity, cognition, and learning. It is commonly thought to lower performance in physical competitions. But there is good evidence to support the theory of ‘mindfulness’ about how plants improve mind & body function. By improving health and productivity, cannabis can improve cognition, cognition & self-esteem. Many studies on how plants affect well-being and health show positive results! In addition to ‘improving brain and physical function,’ plants actually produce important health benefits when harvested (Crow & Sabin, 2008)” p. 5.
Cannabis: A growing body of work appears to support the idea that cannabis has “beneficial effects on the psychological and social abilities of the individual who uses it.” [1] This study found that over 60% of those using cannabis reported that when it was given to their own children the children had significant “success rates on test after high doses” (N. Pemberton, H. F. Johnson & T. Cressey, 2003). [2] “A recent study that assessed the effects of marijuana in children found that marijuana affects attention, learning, memory, cognition, and well-being better than non-toxic agents (i.e., alcohol,” and cocaine,” and heroin and methamphetamine,” ).
Treatment: (from him) “Many studies suggest that cannabis does have a therapeutic effect on cognitive, emotional, and functional impairments. While all three effects have been studied extensively on rodents, we report results that focus on the behavioral effects of cannabinoids (tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, or cannabidiol), marijuana. These effects appear to have a biological and psychological value to the organism, but are not yet clearly demonstrated to be a novel therapeutic effect on cognition and memory, with the potential downside of THC, which is a potential drug of abuse. With cannabis, marijuana will be used for many tasks and is often used throughout the body – it is used in conjunction with other medications and as an anticonvulsant (as well as to reduce chronic, low level seizures). The side effects of this chemical compounds are not yet studied. A more recent study performed on rats found that cannabinoids have very little effect except for reduced blood pressure, but have some efficacy on certain conditions. In addition to increasing blood pressure, cannabinoids also can affect cognitive performance, but not those related to performance on standardized tests. These brain-behavior correlations are due to differences in cannabinoid receptor levels between the two groups. To increase the ability to focus, rats were given high doses of THC and saline and received a combination of diazepam and placebo, the former of which was given orally for 21 minutes, the latter for 12 hours. The THC group, however, increased the amount of
Drug testing is preformed in almost all sports. Most of the drugs can be tested using a urine sample. An athlete can be randomly selected for a drug test bye the league or there team. The two most common methods of testing are Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry. Since the athletes know they could be tested they try to mask there drug use using other drugs such as epitestosterone, plasma expanders, and secretion inhibitors.
Lyle Alzado was born in 1942. He was a high school all American in Cedarhurst, N.Y. It wasnt until he got to college that he realized he did not have the
Steroids in sports 5size to compete. Even when he transferred to a smaller college he still wasnt big enough. So he started taking steroids, he started on Dianabol, about 50 milligrams a day.
“The Dianabol was very easy to get, even in those days. Most athletes go to a gym for their steroids, and I think thats what I did. I remember a couple of weeks later someone mentioned how my biceps seemed to look bigger. I was so proud. I was lifting weights so much that the results were pretty immediate and dramatic. I went from 190 pounds to 220 by eating a lot, and then I went up to about 300 pounds from the steroids. People say that steroids can make you mean and moody, and my mood swings were incredible. Thats what made me a football player, my moods on the field.
As I progressed, I changed steroids whenever I felt my body building a tolerance to what I was taking. Its hard to remember all the names now. I studied them a little. And I mixed combinations like a chemist. You had to take them