Performance Enhancing Drug Abuse in Sports

Those who use Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) do it for different reasons, ranging from a professional athlete who took steroids to have an edge on his competition, to a college student who took the “smart pill” so he could finish all of his work, or a football team using cutting-edge technology to increase performance without harmful affects.

Steroids are used for for two reasons; to enhance performance or for the medical purpose of accelerating healing. When many people think of steroids, they associate them with bad people who cheat and do the wrong thing all the time. However, many people who take steroids are working class citizens just trying to do their job to the best of their ability. For this group of people, one of the newer ways to enhance performance is by using an extract from the velvet on deer antlers, which grows back very fast after being cut. The deer antler spray is known as a natural steroid and is said to cause an increase in muscle growth that can expedite healing.   

On the academic end of Performance-Enhancing Drugs, many college students admit that they stay up late working hard to finish their essays or cramming for tests. The next morning they are tired, can’t focus and can’t perform in class. Because of the inability to focus, the student may fall behind after missing parts of their lessons. One solution growing in popularity on college campuses is Adderall, a highly addictive medication generally prescribed to those with ADHD. It is becoming common for students who are diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed the drug, to sell it throughout their school's campus.

In the U.S., there are very strict laws against the use of steroids without a doctor’s prescription. Police and private investigators are trying to find and close illegal distributors of steroids and other types of PEDs. Even though selling steroids is illegal in all fifty states, it is very easy to get them and often happens at gyms and fitness clubs. During my research, I found that many Private Investigators were surprised to find that so many dealers would deal to young people born as late as in the 1990s.

Other countries have very strict laws about PEDs. Germany has a special police force that was made for finding all types of drugs, including steroids and PEDs. Many countries have the same view on PEDs as the United States and anabolic steroid use without a doctor’s prescription has been made illegal in nearly every country in the world. The biggest distributor of steroids is Thailand, where many websites are created to sell any amount of steroids and other drugs.

Because of growing suspicion in recent years, many genuinely good athletes have been accused of taking PEDs, causing an increase in testing Some athletes are tested at least once a month.

In the past, baseball players and other professional athletes would have a back story to why they play so hard and why they do what they do. Today, even if a player has a story and a reason why they are playing so well, many may still accuse them of cheating.

Albert Pujols, a first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, grew up in the Dominican and loved to play baseball as a kid and was very good at it. He had a rough childhood, often having to carry his drunk father home after a night of drinking following his softball game. Since Pujols arrived in the MLB, he has never scored less than 32 home-runs a season and has hit over a 300 average every season up until three years ago. He says he plays so well because he wants to make his father proud and that he would never take PEDs because he would fear God’s punishment.

Pujols may still have some doubters, but he has changed the minds of many people who now believe that he does not use PEDs. This is a hurdle that many athletes now have to overcome because of the stigma associated with the drugs.