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Steroid Use in America

In: Social Issues

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Portrayed in the Media – Steroids in Athletics: Good or Bad?
Eng 204x
Sullivan University Feb 5th 2012

Portrayed in the Media – Steroids in Athletics: Good or Bad? Every major sport in the world today has at least one thing in common: the athletes that play them will do almost anything to win. From cycling and snowboarding to the NFL and MLB, athletes have done whatever they had to over the years to win at any cost. It’s a pressure placed on them from the owners that pay them to the fans the pay to see them. Some feel that an athlete should be free to make the choices they want to make, as long as it’s safe and doesn’t hurt anyone else. In a society that strives for perfection, the use of anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs (from here on out known as P.E.D’s) has become common place. The uses of the enhancers and those that use them have been vilified over the years by the media and the watchdog groups that say that these things are “bad” and shouldn’t be allowed. On one side we have the athletes themselves that make these decisions knowing that they have to live with the results (good and bad) for the rest of their lives. On the other, we have the media, the pundits, and the critics who basically think the games are being ruined and the athletes are doing more harm than good by taking them. The controversy itself is not new. PED’s have been used since as early as the 1800’s. In the beginning they were used as a way for athletes to gain an edge over their competition in the Olympics. The PED’s themselves were first introduced here in America in the 50’s by a Dr. John Ziegler, after seeing their effects at a Powerlifting meet in Austria (Balko). It was shown then, and even proven today that steroids do in fact, work. They give the athletes the ability to train harder, recover quickly, and can make them “bigger, stronger, and faster”. In fact,

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