Why do so many people use steroids when there are so many health risks and side affects? Do people take steroids because they are not aware of all the risks? Not likely, steroids have been around since the 1930’s when Nazi scientists tried to invent drugs that would make German armies more powerful (Banks, Substance Abuse in Sport: The Realities, pg. 13-21). Though steroids were considered harmful and made illegal in 1991 (Berlow, Sports Ethics). Some side affects of steroids are baldness, high blood pressure, lowered sex drive, acne, nosebleeds, liver disease, kidney disease, and many more (Williams, Drugs and Athletic Performance, pg.
88-90). It may sound ridiculous and idiotic, to those who use steroids, with all the risks involved, but the temptation and pressures in using them are sometimes unbearable. In today’s society there are many pressures to be the best athlete and to look a certain way. Nobody wants to take second place, or look scrawny and wimpy. People want to be the winner and want others to turn their heads to look at them when they walk into a room.
The fastest and easiest way to do that is to take steroids. People take steroids to be bigger and better at sports and also improve physical appearance. In today’s athletics, athletes are getting bigger, stronger, and faster. Whether an athlete plays high school or professional sports, it is getting harder for athletes to compete at a high level with all the competition.
When an athlete is not good enough to make the team or is on a team and does not play much the athlete will do just about anything to improve themselves. Many athletes spend numerous hours practicing and lifting weights trying to get better at their sport, and still they lack what it takes to make the team or be the best. Steroids are the solution to their problems and a way to make their dreams come true. If you were offered the opportunity to lose body fat, get stronger, add more muscle within six weeks and have more motivation to work out more consistently then you do now, would not you try it? Sure it is illegal and it is unfair for all the other athletes who do it the hard way, but most do not care.
Many young men are taking steroids at a young age. Reports from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission issued a report that steroid use increased 2. 6 percent from 1997 to 1999. Also, a report from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research shows an increase of 2. 4 to 3. 1 for boys in twelfth grade between 1991 to1999 (Banks, Substance Abuse in Sport: The Realities, pg.
25-27). From personal experience, a football player I knew said “I decided I was going to take steroids to get big and strong and aggressive. I didn’t care if I died, as long as I completed the season-just as long as I finished like a man. ” This football player was so dedicated to being the best that he could be. He did not even care if he lost his own life.
In recent years sports have become a huge industry. Just this year Alex Rodreguez signed a ten year two hundred and fifty million dollar contract with the Texas Rangers. This is the biggest contract in sports history. A gold medal in the Olympics can mean millions of dollars to athletes, coaches, managers, sponsors, and even countries. It is no wonder more and more people are striving to be the best, and will do whatever it takes to get there.
When it comes to making money and a lot of it people will do just about anything. As for physical appearance almost everyone is self-conscience about how they look. For example, he turns to the mirror to stare at his reflection, pushing up the sleeves to the baggy sweater he wears to hide his body. Flexing his muscles, he lets out a sigh of dissatisfaction and disgust at the body he hates, longing to look like the bodybuilders he admires. Steroids are enormously popular not only on the sports track, but also in the world of workout gyms and fitness buffs.
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