The Negative Impact of Drugs on Sports Entertainment Essay Example for Free

The Negative Impact of Drugs on Sports Entertainment Essay The non-medical use of performance enhancing drugs among adolescents and young adults is of growing concern.   As many as half a million Americans under age 18 may be abusing anabolic/androgenic steroids to improve their athletic performance, appearance and self-image.   A growing body of evidence suggests that medically unsupervised drug use may pose severe risks to physical and psychological health (Kashkin and Kleber, 1989).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shockwaves went through the sports world when Canadian track superstar Ben Johnson was denied his gold medal at the 1988 Olympics after tests showed that he had taken anabolic steroids.    The incident called international attention to the use of anabolic steroids and in general, performance enhancing drugs among world-class athletes to gain competitive advantage.   Still, athletes and non-athletes alike persist in taking them.   And, in fact, it is known that athletes participating in the original Roman Olympic Games consumed them too (UNRV, 2003)!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are reports of male adults in physically demanding professions like law enforcement also using performance enhancing drugs to appear tougher as well as more formidable (Lombardo 1990).   What is more, as these drugs grow in popularity, so does awareness of the serious side effects of their use.   One of the most alarming side effects is the threat of AIDS; HIV — human immunodeficiency virus — can be transmitted if shared needles are used to inject the drug.   Potential harm to physical and psychological health is only one aspect of this troubling trend, though (Lombardo, 1990).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The non-medical use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids, raises ethical and moral issues.   Engaging in steroids use is illegal and users are likely to find themselves acquiring these drugs through illicit and expensive channels. The heavy demand for anabolic steroids has given rise to black market, with sales estimated at as much as $400 million a year; moreover, supplies, which are often illegally manufactured and do not meet established standards, may be unhygienic (Miller, 1987).   Second, athletes who use these drugs are cheating because they gain an unfair advantage over opponents and violate the ban on steroids imposed by most major sports organizations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Performance enhancing drugs may be addictive.   Users of steroids demonstrate an unwillingness to give them up even in the face of possibly dire consequences to their health.   As the health risks of anabolic steroids become more apparent, efforts to curtail their use — through education, legislation, and medical practices — are intensifying.   For those already hooked, kicking the steroids habit is the best chance to escape devastating side effects; for potential users, the solution, of course, is to never take the drug at all.   There are other ways to be a winner athletically and socially without harming health, and without cheating (Miller).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The use of performance enhancing drugs is spoiling the sports entertainment business today.   It is only fair for all athletes to give up drugs, or for all of them to take the same drugs with the same dosage at the same time.   If only a few athletes consume the drugs, it would be cheating on their part.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Still, it is best for all athletes to give up drug use altogether, seeing that there are harmful side effects, both psychological and physiological, related to the use of these drugs.   Given that many athletes are using performance enhancing drugs today, while the rest are not consuming them, these drugs most definitely have a negative effect on sports entertainment. References Kashkin, K. B., and Kleber, H. D. Hooked on Hormones? An Anabolic Steroid Addiction Hypothesis. Journal of the American Medical Association, December 1989. Lombardo, J. A. Anabolic/Androgenic Steroids. NIDA Research Monograph 102, 1990. Miller, R. W. Athletes and Steroids: Playing a Deadly Game, II.† FDA Consumer, November 1987. UNRV: Roman History. Archaeological News. â€Å"Drugs, Cheating Were Part Of Original Olympics Too,† 2003. Available at http://www.unrv.com/newsletter/newsletter-edition1.php. (5 February 2007).