Steroids-A Rising Problem in Today's Society

Anabolic Steroids, or better known as "roids," "juice," "hype," or "pump," is a word that is becoming more frequently used in the news of today. But, just what are anabolic steroids and what are the effects of this drug if any? The word anabolic means "building body tissue," and these drugs make the user feel stronger, larger, and tougher than they otherwise would act naturally. With these kind of effects provided, unfortunately, these steroids are becoming a bigger issue in the world of sports every day. So, are these illegal substances really worth the risk?

Over the past decade or so, steroids have been making an appearance in the news more frequently than in the past years. The question is why are they becoming more commonly known in today's society? We all know how rumors happen and basically, all rumors reach the wrong person at some time or another which has caused there to be stricter testing in all of the professional leagues. They have turned heroes into the enemy, and they have caused true greatness to almost disappear in our minds. Their magic can turn the weak and useless into the best in the game. With a little extra boost of the hormone testosterone, any male or female will become more aggressive and will loose much of their personality that they once obtained. Though steroids will improve one's endurance, strength, and muscle mass, they do not, however, improve skill, agility, or performance.

In most cases, athletes have been found to more frequently use steroids in the sports of football, wrestling, and even baseball. Sadly, in today's society steroids have become an issue in high school athletics as well as professional and college sports where in the past the high schools remained clean of the illegal substances. Chances are today that if some one was to turn on a television, somewhere on one of the news networks the word steroid will pop up, whether in a court case, or a suspension, or even as a cause of death. That's correct, death. With an ultimate result of death, there must be other effects of using steroids and one would be correct to assume that. A user of an anabolic steroid can expect to see premature balding, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and a shivering tremble at times. It also causes the serious disease of high blood pressure which has caused several athletes of the past and present to succumb to a heart attack, a stroke, and cancer and sometimes even death. They also cause aching joints when the athlete gets older with age which allows the user to become more vulnerable to injury and may even cause him to retire from the game he lived for. For females, as well as males, there are specific results for each gender such as facial hair growth and the shrinking of breasts for the women and testicular shrinkage and breast development are at risk for the men. Finally, the serious disease of AIDS is on the rise from the sports world, caused by steroid users who like to share needles with one another. After all, athletes are adored by all of their fans and they are very rich, if you know what I mean.

Now, I am not the smartest person, but don't you think that if an athlete knew that they were going to be tested eventually, that they would not use the substance in fear of being punished or suspended from play? Unfortunately, steroids are also very addictive which puts a certain feeling in the athlete that without the drug, they could not perform and that they would fail. This is why we hear of so many suspensions being handed out to athletes in all sports, and we even see medals being taken away from our heroes of the Olympics. Other risks come with the use of taking steroids and that often means abusing these illegal substances and coming into contact with the law. "Roid rage" is the anger that suppresses the user which may cause him/her to become involved in violence, fighting, or destroying of property. With everything else mentioned previously, it is hard to imagine that the list actually goes on and mentions that mood swings, hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety attacks, and depression are all possibilities of side effects for a steroid user.

The questions still remains of what has been done to lower the percentage of players taking steroids and what still needs to be done to ensure that the use of steroids is on the decline? Over the past two years, the head of all of the professional leagues have met together on several instances to change the way the game is being played today with the use of steroids by their athletes. After being interrogated at the feet of the Supreme Court, they were forced to stricken their penalties for failed drug-tests by the athletes that would be given at random times to random players. After changing many of their punishments and suspensions, there was one league that began to stand out among the others due to its high number of suspensions given out to different players because of failing drug-tests. Even heroes that were looked up to by little children and that would someday be considered among the best all-time were being declared as cheaters for failing their drug-test with the league. Athletes are still getting busted for using steroids, as we hear on the news at least once a week, which proves that steroids will never disappear completely from the world of sports.

Looking at the big picture, after hearing all of these risks just by taking a little pill or by sticking a needle in one's arm, it is clear to see that using steroids is not only an ongoing problem in our society, but it is a dangerous problem to have against us. The rules of the game have been changed and many times the cheaters do get their way, however, in the end when they
get accused of the crime, they have tarnished everything they worked so hard for in their career. With steroid use in the picture, fair play is a thing of the past and the game will continue to be played this way for years down the road. When it comes down to it, steroids can be seen as the following: "just because they can improve one's game, does not mean that they have the ability to improve one's life."