Drugs In Competition | Teen Ink

Drugs In Competition

March 14, 2012
By The_Chank BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
The_Chank BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Would you use drugs to enhance your performance at anything? If you said yes, then you are vacuous of true athleticism. Yes, you might think that they can make you so much better than what you are. But the fact of the matter is that all they are doing is making you fake. Any kind of drug should never be used to enhance one's performance at any competitive activity.
One of the coldest, hardest facts is that by using drugs, one does not show their true talent or skill. A person can only push their bodies so far. There comes a point when you cannot get any bigger, move any faster, or become any stronger. That is when athletes are led to the use of narcotics. The lethal substance that leads to nowhere but regret. For example, I once had a friend who was trying as hard as he could to get bigger and stronger, but eventually his progress was at a stand-still. But he knew he could do more. So, he turned to protein supplements, which for a while, produced some positive results. After another couple of months he realized his results were hindering. The only thing left for him was, inevitably, drugs. He started using steroids, which eventually caused his downfall. When he started trying out for sports teams, he exceeded exponentially. But as a result of using steroids, he became addicted and obsessed with getting bigger and stronger. His teammates could see he was having troubles. Eventually his roid rage struck out, and he accidentally seriously injured his trainer. The consequences of his actions were 6 months in jail. After being let go from jail he relieved himself from the drugs, but continued with his eating habits. This then led to obesity and diabetes. If you have figured this out, that person was me.
In addition, drugs may have negative affects towards one's health like I have mentioned before. After using drugs for some period of time, and then completely stopping can cause a myriad number of health hazards. Obesity, diabetes, withdrawals, and death are just a few of the many bad effects. The use of drugs has ruined the careers of many professional athletes. To everyone else, it seems like the athlete is exceeding the standards. But in reality, the athlete is slowly destroying their body.
The opposition would say, “If each of us ought to be free to assume risks that we think are worth taking, shouldn't athletes have the same freedom as anyone else? In particular, if athletes prefer the gains in performance allegedly provided by the use of steroids, along with the increased risk of harm to the alternative of less risk and worse performance, what gives anyone the right to interfere with their choice?” said Robert Simon, PhD, Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College. The answer to his first ludicrous question is indubitably no. The clear answer to his second preposterous question is the fact that steroids and other drugs create an unfair playing field throughout all athletics. There is undoubtedly no room for any performance enhancing drugs in any sports.
Yet another reason is the unfair advantage drug users have when competing for a job. The drugs simply cover up natural talent and skill so that they are showing what the drug can do, but not what the athlete can do. Everyone else can truly provide the results of naturally what they are. The advantage is clearly unfair and unjust. Richard Pound, former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, undeniably agrees with me. He stated, “Remember that athletes don't take these drugs to level the playing field, they do it to get an advantage. And if everyone else is doing what they're doing, then instead of taking 10 grams or 10 cc's or whatever it is, they'll take 20 or 30 or 40, and a vicious circle simply gets bigger. The end game will be an activity that is increasingly violent, extreme, and meaningless, practiced by a class of chemical and or genetic mutant gladiators. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is not accidental; it is planned and deliberate with the sole objective of getting an unfair advantage." It is safe to say, people who really deserve the job may not obtain what they are striving for when the competition is so ridiculously weighted towards other users.
In conclusion, one may see the reason to ban the use of drugs in competitive activities completely. Drugs mask the talent and skill, provide many health hazards, and create and unfair competition for jobs in the athletic field. It is blatant to see the drugs should be irrevocably banned. This injustice must stop!

Bibliography
Simon, Robert, and Richard Pound. "Top 10 Pros and Cons - Sports and Drugs - ProCon.org." Sports and Drugs. 6 May 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2012. <http://sportsanddrugs.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=002352>.


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