There is no point in athletes risking their lives to gain an advantage in sports, and the reputation of all sports could be on the line. Steroids, stimulants, and hormones have been shown to improve the physical body and increase athletic ability. However, athletes destroy their physical and mental personality to illegally obtain the minimal effects of these harmful and dangerous drugs. Some of the most memorable moments in sports history have been tainted by the invented skills of artificial players. We need to return to an era in which legends are built in the face of adversity with their own hands, without the distorting effects of synthetic substances. Precautions and boundaries must be established in order to establish and maintain the purity of all sports leagues and athletes, which will ultimately make the game more enjoyable to watch and participate in. The economy of multiple world economies is at extreme risk if the reputation of the sport causes an avalanche of spectators away from this pastime, so the honor and morality of the sport must be protected and upheld by all party members. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The steroid debate has become one of the most controversial issues in the sports world today. Athletes in all types of sports are getting bigger, faster, and stronger, making the inhumane feats that occur in sports one of the most popular types of entertainment in society. With the evolution of technology, it has been proven that athletes can become even more impressive with the help of drugs to enhance their performance. However, the risks and consequences that come with these drugs far outweigh the possible benefits of allowing athletes to use them and create a skewed playing field for participants. Sport is meant to be a pure pastime that people can enjoy, performance enhancing drugs would ruin this reputation and eventually cause the downfall of sporting competitions and perhaps more around the world. Sports have existed since before the time of Jesus, when the Greeks and Romans competed in various challenges of strength and endurance. Since the late 1800s, top athletes around the world have battled to overcome the limits of the human body. The official Olympic website describes the evolution specifically of the Olympic Games and weightlifting when it describes "Today, weightlifters compete in snatch and clean and jerk" rather than its primitive origins of simply lifting a heavy object with one or two hands. Demonstrating the monumental evolution of one of the most important competitions in world history, weightlifting in particular provides an introduction and link to the discovery of performance-enhancing drugs and their unnatural consequences. This however is not necessary as the human race continues to evolve on its own without the dangers and death caused by PEDs. Let's take the game of football for example. The game has gained more and more popularity on American television and it's largely due to the fact that bigger, stronger and faster athletes are more fun to watch. One of the most popular ways to view this evolution is through the offensive and defensive lines. For example, “In the early 1980s, Washington line coach Joe Bugel told Joe Jacoby, a 6-foot-7-inch, 275-pound offensive tackle from the University of Louisville, that he had a chance to make it in the NFL, but only if he got bigger.” So, with hardwork, determination and honesty, Jacoby strengthened himself and became one of the greatest and most dominant players of his era. This is what people want to see, the incredible feats of the human body and just that. Synthetic earnings and illegal methods taint the game and the athletes themselves, causing distrust and disrespect from fans. PerformanceEnhancing drugs will corrupt the game and lead to a decline in popularity, which could be harmful to athletes, society and the heavily dependent economy. One of the most popular and debated substances used by athletes for an advantage in competition are anabolic steroids. Used to increase muscle mass and strength by reducing recovery time by allowing the athlete to train harder and more frequently, anabolic steroids have alarming negative side effects that cannot be ignored. According to the Mayo Clinic, these illegal drugs can lead to high blood pressure, psychiatric disorders, infections, disease, and addiction which is exacerbated exponentially when “Many athletes take anabolic steroids at doses much higher than those prescribed for medical reasons.” . Clearly, these athletes are risking their lives for the slightest advantage in a game that many children play simply for fun. Being the best of the best certainly comes with great praise and perks, but at what cost? PEDs simply should not be legal in sports competition. The risks are too great. Especially because "the long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs have not been rigorously studied, and the short-term benefits are tempered by many risks." Do fans really need athletes to risk their health to provide entertainment for those who are less gifted and appreciate talent and effort without endangering the athletes' lives? If anything, at least the drugs should be tested for years and made safer before being legalized by sports organizations. Another reason why these harmful performance enhancing drugs should not be legalized is the fact that this will not solve the problem by creating popularity and leveling the market. playing field in sport. How would people react if they found out that their favorite player on the hometown team who broke the homerun record was using PEDs? The Gazette's Haley Tackaberry explains, "it makes athletes look fake and fueled only by an unnatural substance that shouldn't be found in one's body." It diminishes the respect fans have for players who have not accomplished their feat legally, safely, or honestly. Even worse, legalizing doping would create a vicious circle. Athletes will continue to look for an edge in the competition and will take more and more drugs, or even find new and more dangerous narcotics that could lead even “many of the players who do not wish to suffer long-term effects [of] feeling forced to use themselves illegal substances". Part of the reason professional athletes have gotten to the level they are at is due to a significantly greater competitive advantage than many other players. Their tireless focus and work ethic sets them apart from others and could lead to dangerous actions to maintain their status. The incorporation of performance-enhancing drugs takes away one of the fundamental aspects of the sport. These illegal substances take away the fun and enjoyment of gambling and turn it strictly into a win-lose situation. PEDs devalue the way of playing the game and, in turn, show fans the selfish and conceited aspects of a player's enhanced personality. PED drugsthey should be eradicated from sport to ensure a healthy, balanced and respectable environment within any sporting competition. Let's consider for a moment the possible outcomes of using performance-enhancing drugs. PEDs could lead to multimillion-dollar contracts, fame unmatched on any platform, and perhaps a longer, more effective career. However, these results can only be realized if the steroids or stimulants do not cause an excessive deterioration of the athlete's health and if the athlete is not caught. In an article from Northwestern University, the author quotes Jose Conseco, a known PED user, as saying, "I don't recommend steroids to everyone...but to some individuals, I'm really convinced, because I've experimented with them for so many years , which can transform an average athlete into a super athlete. It can make an incredible super athlete.” Some PEDs have been proven to work and it is understandable why some weak and weak-minded athletes turn to unnatural and illegal substances to improve. their performance, however, this is a risk that will likely ruin their health and career. Another aspect of the drug debate involves substances such as marijuana and Adderall, a drug prescribed to ADHD to aid concentration and calmness, it has become a hot topic and quite a fad in the NFL. Since it is a permitted substance with the right prescription and has been shown to increase hand-eye coordination, it is a sought-after tool by many NFL players. Marijuana, on the other hand, is sought after by players for its pain relief and to aid the hours of intense trauma these athletes endure each day. In the same article, WR Antonio Cromartie is quoted as saying that "[marijuana] is the least harmful and least addictive of the painkillers used to cope with the violent demands of the game." However, as is obvious in the choice of word, this drug is still harmful and addictive for athletes of any sport. For these reasons, sports leagues and associations should not only continue to keep PEDs illegal, but implement even more severe testing and punishment for drug use. A big problem with the drug enforcement system in MLB is the lack of consistency from player to player. Every major league spectator and fan knows that steroids, marijuana, and human growth hormone are harmful and illegal, but what about a drug like Adderall? Bleacher Report, an extremely popular source for sports news today, writes "Major League Baseball players take Adderall with an MLB therapeutic use exemption every day, while others have been suspended for taking the exact same pills, only without a prescription medical". Adderall is said to improve hand-eye coordination, but it is a common prescription for gamblers with ADD or ADHD. With this kind of unfair advantage, it seems like the most sensible solution is to make it available to all players, because this drug specifically has little to no effect on player health. One possible argument that could be made explicitly for the sport of baseball in favor of drug legalization is another method of trying to level baseball throughout history. Bleacher Report's Levy suggests, “If baseball wants the home run record to be sacred, it should do what golf did and make the field longer. Move fences back 450 or 500 feet. This will protect the old home run record far more than hitting some players for PEDs ever could.” He goes on to argue that this would create a larger outfield that could lead to more runs and even a more interesting game from