Should Performance Enhancing Drugs Be Illegal For Student Athletes?

Should performance enhancing drugs be illegal for student athletes? All the way back in 1865, “canal swimmers in Amsterdam and Holland were the first competitive athletes charged with doping” (ProQuest staff). During these time periods many of these athletes would mix cocaine and heroin to make a concoction called the speedball (ProQuest staff). These athletes would mix the substances to get the extra boost of performance for them to believe that they were at their best every competition. Many didn’t really know the harm it did to their bodies and what kind of precedent they set for future athletes. Their knowledge of these drugs were so minimal that they believed they only did good to their performance and had little impact on their bodies …show more content…
These performance enhancing drugs can cause very minor problems in a body or can eventually lead up to death. Fitzhugh states, “The effects on teens and women are the worst and are long lasting” (17). A teen’s body is not fully developed, therefore, when drugs are put into it, it can cause damage. These drugs should be illegal for student athletes because of the size and maturity of their body; it is not ready to be overwhelmed with drugs that will improve their performance. Professional athletes might be able to handle more of these substances because of their size and maturity. Performance enhancing drugs also are detrimental to a student athlete’s health because they will student the teen’s height and reduce your sperm production (Mayo Clinic Staff). This proves further that it will create a lasting impact on a teen’s future because if the student athlete isn’t fully grown it will stunt their height and keep them at that height for the rest of their life. These drugs can also lead to heart problems, enlarge their bones and organs, and some say could increase the risk of getting cancer or other deadly diseases (Shipley). Even more outcomes from taking performance enhancing drugs are; high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart problems, and psychiatric disorders (Pannoni). As you can see these drugs can lead to very …show more content…
Anabolic steroids were originally made to treat some medical conditions like anemia and also can be used to reverse the effect or muscle wasting (Fitzhugh 10). These steroids were not made for teens to build muscle off of because they have certain side effects that patients with deadly diseases may need to stay alive. Also many teens try and use performance enhancing drugs to try and get a better body image and to reduce the amount of harassment they might receive (Mayo Clinic Staff). Nowadays parents also want to have their kids be the best they can so they push their kids to be the best they can. While doing this it may cause their child to turn to drugs to try and have their parents be happy with their performance and appearance (Mayo Clinic Staff). Parents don’t know when to stop pushing their children in sport because making their teen’s think they need to turn to performance enhancing drugs was the wrong move. This could turn the teen into a full time user and therefore they were trying to make their kids better but they hurt their health because of the long lasting side effects that the drugs have. Also if their teen begins to use the drugs and are caught that means they could have just ruined a promising career (Fitzhugh 17). If a teen is caught using these drugs and colleges find out about it that will turn the