...Drug use has reached an all-time high in the sports arena. The need to succeed, be among the elite, financial gain, and the pressure to win are some of the many reasons that drugs are found in sports today. Drugs in sports range from therapeutic drugs, performance enhancement drugs, and recreational drugs. Drugs in sports are found on various levels of competition such as: high school, college, and professional sports. High school athletes' are using enhancement drugs so that they may receive a college scholarship, collegiate athletes' are using drugs so that they make it to the professional level, and professional athletes' are using drugs to make sure that they stay among the elite. Drug use in athletics have led to suspensions of players, athletes being banned from that particular sport, and ultimately death. There are many reasons for using drugs in sports, with performance enhancement being one of the top reasons, but no one will ever understand why athletes risk their career and lives. A concern for the public is the fact that athletes assume these risks just to be among the top competitors of sports. Drugs are a danger to the health of athletes. Drug use to enhance performance is unethical, and using drugs is illegal in today's society. Drugs in sports is unethical because the focus of winning and succeeding overshadows the real reasons for playing sports such as the love for a sport, natural talent and ability, and hard work to be among the elite. Athletes are thinking...
Words: 4069 - Pages: 17
...Running Header: At What Cause Will Athlete Stop Using Performance Enhancer At What Cause Will Athlete Stop Using Performance Enhancer Kha’Lashia Ketchum Axia College of University of Phoenix COM/120 Sandy Lacer Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports A performance-enhancing drug in sports is a big thing these days. Athletes are using them to increase their ability to win. Ethically speaking at what cost do we say enough. Think about their lives, by continuing to take these form of enhancement what effect will they have in the long run. Maybe if we understand the types of drugs, the side effects, health risk, and consequence of taking drugs. Athletes would stop using these forms of performance-enhancer. The type of Drugs Athletes Take Athletes use many different types of performance-enhancer in professional sports today from pills to steroids; they will even go as far as self-injecting their own blood as a dope. Blood Doping is where the athletes take there own blood and injected in their bodies to produce more oxygen in their blood in order to increase their chances of win. The positive thing about doing this is that it makes it easy for the athletes to breathe a longer time, which give them a better chance for winning. “Athletes have always been aware of the possible benefit of improving oxygen carrying capacity in endurance sport, hence many train at altitude. More recently athletes have used blood doping – in which blood is taken off...
Words: 1418 - Pages: 6
...Sports and Performance Enhancing Drugs John Alvarez Student #0588681 Essay 2 April 1, 2015 PHI – 010 Professor Andrea Yusim Words: 1,519 In a country that is obsessed with winning and competition, athletes, teams and even fans have tried to gain an advantage against their competition. As athletes become bigger, stronger and faster, the margin and window of opportunity to become the best athlete in their respective sports is surely becoming smaller and smaller. Many people will argue that performance enhancing drugs will help in promoting player health and recovery and that sports in general will benefit overall. In this paper, I will argue that the argument in favor of performance enhancement drug use is not valid because performance enhancing drugs are unethical, create unfair competitive advantages and do not promote the very essence of the value of sports which is hard work and team work. Team and individual sports in the United States is a very important part of culture. Athletes are revered for their prowess and mastery of their respective sports and are at times treated as demi-gods. Individual teams and entire leagues depend on these very athletes to compete at the highest level and with the utmost sense of integrity in order to show that their leagues are played ethically. So not only are athletes expected to be at their very best, they are also expected to do so without compromising the integrity of the sport such as cheating by using PEDs. In the article...
Words: 1694 - Pages: 7
...Steroids have been part of baseball history for a long time and it’s benefited athletes who resort to using it without getting caught. It’s helped the game develop into the game we see today, with players breaking home run records and pitchers pitching Cy Young worthy numbers. Steroids have caused a rift between who should or shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame because it helped them get a competitive boost with the use of an injection or cream, while others played naturally and legally. While I believe that steroids have its advantages in athletes, it is just another way athletes can gain a competitive boost. If steroids were to be legalized, all athletes would have the chance to compete at the same level, but in a much higher and competitive environment. The stadiums would be more electric and games would be more exciting for the fans to enjoy....
Words: 2494 - Pages: 10
...The main comment people think about when they hear athletes using performance enhancement drugs and why it should be illegal are the health risks. What is a performance enhancing substance? “A substance or method is considered to be performance-enhancing when it has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance” “It also represents an actual or potential health risk to an athlete”(Performance-Enhancing Drugs and Their Side-Effects.) There are physical and mental effects of taking the drugs. “The physical effects could be acne, male pattern baldness, liver damage and stunted growth if you’re still an adolescent”( Effects of Performance-Enhancing Drugs | USADA). “More serious effects include heart and liver damage, and an increased risk...
Words: 599 - Pages: 3
...To what extent is winning the motivation for athletes to take performance enhancing drugs despite the risks involved? Abstract Drugs in sport is an ongoing problem which I believe will never be completely abolished from the sporting world. We have definitely come a long way since the early days of drug use with the introduction of governing bodies such ad WADA to help control the testing of athletes and the detection of illegal substances, however I do not think we will be able to completely remove this ’drug culture’ from the sporting world. Therefore having experienced first-hand the drug testing practices involved in detection after competing in the world youth championships this year I was interested to look into the motivation behind athletes who choose to cheat and risk their future career both athletically and their career after retirement having been branded as a 'cheat’ within their sport. I will do this by looking into the history of drug use in sport and the enhancements the drugs provide to performance to try to understand why athletes risk their careers to simply win. Contents | | Abstract | 2 | Introduction | 2 | Drugs in sport; a modern problem? | 3 | Drugs in sport: what are they? * Amphetamines * Anabolic steroids * EPO * Diuretics * Caffeine | 3-6 | Drugs in sport: health...
Words: 3937 - Pages: 16
...Ethical issues regarding the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports In the history of 20th century sports, specifically in the post World War 2 era, there has been an ever increasing use of performance enhancing drugs in all avenues of sport. Sports have become money making machine for both athletes and big business and the “win at all costs” attitude which has permeated itself into all aspects of professional and college level athletics. Winners make money, losers don’t. The temptation of fame, notoriety and million dollar contracts in all venues of sport is a lure for many athletes. Elite professional athletes are worshiped in today’s society. This paper will elaborate on the use of performance enhancing drugs in the sporting world and the associated sports ethical issues. It is a majority belief in all sporting circles that the “true” spirit of sportsmanship does not allow any aspect of performance enhancing drugs. There are several arguments both in favor and against the use of performance enhancing drugs which will be presented and discussed in this paper. While addressing this ethical issue, we need to define the term ethics. Ethics can be defined as the socially accepted norms and values. These norms and values are varied from society to society and are based on culture and tradition. Ethics also could be defined as the unsaid, un-written and understood laws that prevail in a society. Ethics also cover what is right and what is wrong in society and teaches...
Words: 4511 - Pages: 19
...Performance Enhancement Drugs in Sports, the Ethical Choice In May 28, 2002, former Major League Baseball player Ken Caminiti admits to Sports Illustrated in the article “Caminiti Comes Clean” that he used steroids during his 1996 National League MVP (most valuable player) season with the San Diego Padres and he estimated that half of the players in the big leagues were also using steroids. He later died of a heart attack at age 40 where it was ruled by the New York Medical Examiner that drugs are a factor in his death. In October 5, 2007, track star Marion Jones admits to use steroids during the 2000 Olympic Games where she won three Gold Medals and two Bronze Medals. She was later sentenced to six months in prison for lying to the court and stripped off of all of her medals. Throughout history, there have been many stories of athletes using performance enhancing drugs, but none more than in the last 20 years. As technology advances in science as well as the media, more drugs has been engineer to enhance performance as well as the test to detect such drugs, as the results get to the hands of the media, the entire world would be at noticed in a manner of minutes. The fact is that performance enhancing drugs have existed since the time of the ancient Greek during the original Olympic Games from 776 BC – 393 BC. The question is why should we care? If most athletes are using it, is it a plain level field? And why is the government involved? Should the government be involved? ...
Words: 2000 - Pages: 8
...Performance Enhancing Drugs In the world of sports, competition is always on the mind of every athlete that competes. Whether it be a sport like football that demands physical and mental toughness to more simpler sports like track and field which focuses on one specific event or sequence, competition is always around the corner. Every athlete who competes in any extracurricular sport wants to see their name in lights or scattered across newspapers, magazines, sponsorships, and trophies to prove that they are worthy of becoming one of the greatest athletes of all time. However, in a society full of medical breakthroughs and countless research, an array of substances known as Performance Enhancing Drugs have fallen into the hands of these athletes....
Words: 1887 - Pages: 8
...Nicholas Robinson Professor Beaman ENGLH 1301 30 October 2015 Legalize It Professional athletes have become a part of a realm of sports that’s forever changing. Professional sports have significantly become a huge role in many different cultures and have become a realm of its own. Professional players have adapted to succumb to the level of athleticism that continues to rise within every generation. They are adapting to a constantly changing sport where athletes are becoming bigger, stronger, and faster. The increased amount of competition and athleticism in professional sports has advocated a need for new ways for players to get ahead of the rest of the pack. Performance enhancing drugs sit high on the list that the athletes have to choose from as a method to gain the advantage, but these substances have been recently heavily fought against in the realm of professional sports. This resistance has done more harm than good in a sense in that drug testing fails at what it’s supposed to do. It has led to more players turning to black market labs to obtain their steroids. As drug testing is supposed to level the playing field for all athletes, it truly de-levels the playing field in that so many athletes are cheating the drug test than there are natural athletes. Athletes who are taking PED’s are going to these black market labs that are not controlled or supervised when they are creating these drugs and as a result could potentially harm the athlete’s health. The legalization...
Words: 1971 - Pages: 8
...PED use in Athletics Performance enhancing drugs have been used by athletes for decades. In ancient Greece, some of the earliest Olympians used substances in an attempt to gain a competitive advantage. The drugs that they would use would either be plant seeds or extracts of mushrooms. Later in Rome, gladiators were known to have turned to drugs. The gladiators would dope for many different reasons, from dulling pain to creating a bloodier spectacle for viewers. In professional baseball, players like Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi were called in front of Congress to discuss steroid use in baseball for two weeks. Congress insisted that steroids were ruining the sport and needed to be banned when, in reality, reported revenues were vastly increased during the steroid era. Congress also preached about a level playing field, but the New York Yankees have a payroll three times that of average teams so how fair can the league really be without a salary cap. This research paper is not on the fairness of baseball though; it is about why a person would choose to do PEDs and how it affects society. Looking at some of the influences presented; it is shown that winning is a major force, a motive and drive; going deeper into winning we conclude that money is one of the major rewards for winning. These are seen as endorsements, contracts, and advertisement opportunities that are very profitable and also sponsor individual players and teams in sports. These revenues influence and encourage individuals...
Words: 794 - Pages: 4
...mind that some forms of doping can be the use of narcotics and stimulants that can inhibit an athlete’s mind and not just supplements. Athletes are always looking for something to help get that edge, whether it is a second off their sprint time, being able to withstand a long run with ease, hitting a ball farther or lifting a few more pounds at the gym. Doping can give that edge to athletes and help them win that competition. But is it fair? We know that some forms of doping are just that, dope better known as drugs and is illegal to possess and use. As I see it, doping is cheating! Any titles and/or awards that are earned by the athletes who have been proven to be under the influence of drugs during the competition should be given back or stripped. Like, I have stated already doping is cheating and in some forms illegal. Why should it be okay for someone to alter their bodies just to get the edge over other athletes who work hard the right way?...
Words: 458 - Pages: 2
...cocaine and heroin) (Hemphill, 2009). One such class of drug is known as performance-enchancing drugs. Hemphill defines a performance enhancer as any drug or treatment that improves an athletes level of achievement through physical and/or mental means (2009, p.315). Though others see a performance-enhancer as more then just a drug or treatment, but as ways of training/ recovery technologies and innovations which improve performance (Savulescu et. al, 2004). Innovations is quite a broad term, but in terms of competitive sports it is referred to as the development of new or altered training and recovery techniques which are introduced into competitive sports to gain any athletic advantage possible, this being mainly of new technological advances (Loland, 2009). Affirmative Performance-enhacning drugs are ethically different from innovations and technologies in sport as performance enhancing drugs can potentially damage the health of those taking them, while anyone using them is gaining an unfair advantage and how the morals and the spirit of sport is affected by the use perfromance-enhancing drugs as compared to innovations in sports. The health of athletes in sport has always been a number one priority by sporting governments, while drugs do improve an athletes performance and can give them a superior athletic edge, they do come with many negative side effects which cause harm to their bodies. Continuing use of these drugs have caused permanent damage and even death to many users...
Words: 667 - Pages: 3
...Illegal Drug Use in Sports Drug testing in professional sports should be at random times and professional sports leagues should have stricter policies on drug testing. Performance enhancing drugs give professional athletes unfair advantages that are unfair to the athletes who do not use performance enhancing drugs. When athletes use performance enhancing drugs it affects their health and if they are caught when drug tested the athlete can face severe punishments. Consequently, if an athlete is caught using performance enhancing drugs it sends a negative message to young people that often look up to professional athletes. If drug testing was not required in professional sports, some athletes would gain an unfair advantage. Performance enhancing drugs have been used from all the way back to the Greek Olympics through present day. The first drug tests began in February 1968 at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France. "The IOC instituted its first compulsory doping controls at the Winter Olympic Games in Grenoble, France in 1968 and again at the Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City in the same year. At that time the list of banned substances issued in 1967 included narcotic analgesics and stimulants, which comprised sympathomimetic amines, psychomotor stimulants and miscellaneous central nervous system stimulants [including alcohol]. Although it was suspected that androgenic anabolic steroids were being used at this time, testing methods were insufficiently developed to...
Words: 992 - Pages: 4
...OUTLINE RESEARCH PAPER Can Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) actually be positive and beneficial for Major League Baseball? “As the likes of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez saw their usage exposed, the sport fought back with tougher drug testing and after the 2005 season produced a program punitive enough to minimize the game's doping culture.” (Braun's test result gives MLB major jolt; With MVP under cloud, steroid era is revisited Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY), "Probably the biggest sentence to which he was subjected is the impact on whether he'll be a lock for the Hall of Fame and the stigma that is now attached to his name and his records."(Barry Bonds is sentenced in enduring BALCO saga; No end in sight to BALCO's reach by: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY). Quotes like these could have been seen all over newspapers and magazines all throughout the past decade. Yes, these athletes did use Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED), but a debate has raged on about just how right are we to scrutinize them for those actions and just how inappropriate their actions were? With baseball professionals on both sides arguing how much of an impact they really had on the game. More so, I'd like to ask the question of whether what they had done was actually in a way good for baseball, and whether Performance Enhancing Drugs should even be banned from baseball? Which, I believe they shouldn’t be for numerous reasons. In order to understand just how...
Words: 1933 - Pages: 8
