How do you like your 'roids?

I’ve never had a huge standing in the issue on of Steroids. I don’t know anyone who uses performance enhancing drugs, nor have they affected my life in some way. My resolution was that it was the individual’s choice in whether he or she wanted to use steroids. However, the video featuring Bryant Grumbel interviewing a doctor about Steroids made some interesting points. I’ve been naïve enough to always believe that steroids caused many physiological and mental problems, but it was interesting to hear the other side of the story; a side that is as taboo as the drugs themselves.

The video works by focusing on one thing: the grown men who use steroids and aren’t affected by them. It makes anyone watching the video question the controversy surrounding these drugs and if they really are as dangerous as they are made out to be. What about the cancer, the heart problems, the increased bodily harm that steroids have caused for so many years? Apparently, it doesn’t exist. There are no bodies with autopsy reports concluding that prolonged use of steroids were the cause of death. Two men that were interviewed in the video have been using steroids for a combined sixty years, and there wasn’t a single thing wrong with them. The video makes the controversy surrounding steroids a large joke. However, there is something missing. The video mentions grown men using steroids, but what about teenagers, women, and children? While there aren’t many reports discussing the effects of steroids on women and children, we cannot forget them. This factor, when considered, takes away some of the effectiveness of the video. Someone who attempts to defend steroids would have to explain how they affect everyone, not just grown men. Are women also safe from the usage of performance enhancing drugs, and how will they fair twenty years later when they are still taking it? If it turns out that men have a high tolerance for the side-effects of the drugs and women and children don’t, then there is reason to pull the drugs from the market and fight against their usage. Arguments defending the drugs would not work if they only pertain to one demographic. A teenage boy will watch the two body builders and listen to the statistics, and he will probably think that he will be fine if he begins to take steroids. Without knowing how steroids affects him, the boy could end possibly up with medical problems and with the notion that he will never be as good as to two men who were perfectly fine after using the drugs.

Although, after listening to the two body builders interviewed in the video, I do think that steroids are capable of being used responsibly. We hear too many stories of people abusing steroids, thus causing the large stigma against the drugs. While I don’t support steroids, I can’t undermine someone who chooses to use them. As long as the drugs are being used responsibly, then the only wrong doings can be linked to whether using steroids takes away from the integrity of a sport or if there really are medical problems linked to steroids. Additionally, if tests are run on people who use steroids responsibly and on those who abuse the drugs, it could show how the drugs affect the body, depending on how they are used.

Steroid use, while I’ve never been affected by it, is something that I do not really like. I have always found them to be a little excessive, regardless of whether they worked. Personally, I condone the usage of steroids for medicinal reasons, but when used to enhance performance, I think it takes away from the potential of the user. When using steroids, it’s hard to look past the drugs and to see the athletes’ true capabilities. Either way, I’m still a little bothered with the knowledge that fourteen year old, high school freshmen are being tested for steroids. I can’t imagine that a young teenager would be already go as far as using steroids, but I’m not completely ignorant to the fact that it’s very possible. I do think that steroid testing should be used for underage users only because we are not completely sure how steroids affect a young age group. While grown men are supposedly fine, children might react horribly after a prolonged usage. Professional athletes should be tested so that the integrity of the sport and their performance remains. However, a test can’t determine the specific reason an athlete uses steroids. Besides being tested for drugs, athletes should be questioned about their usage of steroids and their history with them.

Dr. Hoberman makes a point by connecting steroid usage with the mentality that people want to be the best rather than perform at their best. Athletes, professional and non-professional, are capable of being influenced by the idea that if they aren’t the best, then there is no purpose to their competing. At this point, it is hard to tell where the glory is being derived from. Many people praise the athletes consistently win against their competition, and the losers are left with the sensation that if they are not up to par, they will not receive the same recognition, even if they have performed to the best of their ability. It is a mentality that is driven into the minds of everyone; a coach will yell at his team for making a mistake in a game or losing, and he will reward his team of they win. Overtime, the mind will only perceive losing as horrible as dying and winning is the only way to happiness and praise. Encouragement towards a team or athlete who has lost might change the perception of coming in second place rather than first; besides, if an athlete is discovered to be taking steroids, the stigma shines a dark light on the individual, and every win that was awarded becomes as horrible as the losses experienced in the past.