Athletes and performance-enhancing drugs

Randy Orton (Harris, 2012), Mark McGwire (ESPN, 2014), Chris Benoit (Mongomery, 2007), and even Lance Armstrong (Wilson, 2013) -- what do these four athletes, to name a few, have in common? These athletes made headlines in recent years admitting to drug usage, including drugs that increase performance. When it does come to use of performance enhancing drugs, expect nothing but potholes and detours on your road to success. The one thing that is highly questionable to me is whether or not there are any drugs that can detoxify athletes in a way that buprenorphrine would treat at least the side effects of heroin (NYC Department of Health) like we talked about recently.

There are four articles on four different athletes I pulled up that should be able to solve majority of these questions explained here. According to another recent article, drugs were clearly involved in Chris Benoit's double-murder suicide. (Sutton, 2007) What Benoit did was a little bit too graphic for me to explain here and I would rather not go too far into detail. I would personally say that I had seen many physical reactions to drugs. I can only recall as a young boy, aged 6/7, where a boy went out of control and had to get 5 adults to drag him into a time-out room. I asked my teacher at the time if he might have had one pill too many, jokingly, but it seemed confidential.

I believe that any psychological reaction to these drugs would have the consumer become left with limited thinking. An article explained that most performance-enhancing drugs can lead to depression and agressiveness. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2012) Most legal consequences can result from use of these performance-enhancing drugs if people find out. Lance Armstrong was stripped out of seven Tour de France titles he once held. He also had to give back a bronze medal he won in 2000. (Wilson, 2013)

My word here is simply that if performance enhancing drugs do not add years to your life, then it is simple to play fair and avoid PED's altogether. I would personally research other drugs that GNC and other drug stores place on the shelves before I want to invest. I would only go as far as taking multi-vitamins which I believe is not as effective as an average PED but it should add years to my life. Last but certainly not least, it is traditional that companies come up with a backup plan so they won't face wrongful death or other odd lawsuits in the future. Most companies should come up with occasional testings on all people they hire and make sure they're okay and drug-free. If their drug tests come back positive on use of suspicious drugs, then I think it is fair to come up with the appropriate consequences that fits the violators involved. I know how scary PED's are, and I'm glad I avoided them. But for those that have taken PED's in the past, it's best to sit and have them explain it to you so you can learn from their mistakes. Thanks for reading and best of luck in the upcoming semesters/quarters ahead. :)

References:

>> Montgomery, J. [Internet]. Chris Benoit Had Steroids, Other Drugs In His System At Time Of Murder-Suicide (2007-07-17 16:06 UTC-5) [Cited 2014-05-01]. New York: MTV/Viacom. Available from http://www.mtv.com/news/1564953/chris-benoit-had-steroids-other-drugs-in-his-system-at-time-of-murder-suicide/

>> Buprenorphine: A New Drug for Treating Heroin Addiction [Internet] [Cited 2014-05-01]. New York: New York City Department of Health. Available from: https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/9555/

>> ESPN [Internet]. E-Ticket: Who Knew? (2014) [Cited 2014-05-01]. Bristol, CT: ESPN, Inc. Available from: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=steroids&num=8

>> Wilson, J. [Internet]. Lance Armstrong's doping drugs (2013-01-18 07:56 UTC-5) [Cited 2014-05-01]. Atlanta, GA: Cable News Network. Available from: http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/15/health/armstrong-ped-explainer/

>> Harris, K. [Internet]. Randy Orton's suspension due to testing positive for the steroid Dianabol (2012-06-06 20:54 UTC-5) [Cited 2014-05-01]. New York, NY: Vox Media. Available from: http://www.cagesideseats.com/2012/6/6/3069392/randy-ortons-suspension-due-to-testing-positive-for-the-steroid

>> Sutton, L., Truesdell, J. Morrissey, S., Atlas, D., Scully, S., Cobb, E., Morehouse, M., Green, A., Harris, I., Waldman, D., Frangou, C., Dodd, J., Ballard, M., Cotliar, S., and Grossman, W. [Internet]. Chris Benoit's Final Days (2007-06-16) [Cited: 2014-05-01]. New York, NY: Time, Inc. Available from: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20061388,00.html

>> Mayo Clinic Staff [Internet]. Performance-enhancing drugs: Know the risks (2012-12-12) [Cited: 2014-05-01]. Rochester, MN, Scottsdale, AZ, Phoenix, AZ, and Jacksonville, FL: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/fitness/in-depth/performance-enhancing-drugs/art-20046134