Con- Jessica Maynard

A research study done by The Associated Press showed that 7 percent of college athletes from 120 different athletic programs tested positive for steroids. It is widely known around the world that athletes use steroids in order to enhance their performance even when athletic leagues ban their use.

Steroid use has been glorified for young athletes who believe they need to use them. Perhaps the problem with steroids is people are not fully aware of the consequences of taking steroids and that is why many people suggest legalizing them.

The fact that athletes use these drugs to create an unequal playing field should be a major concern. If everyone were allowed to take steroids, what would stop the players who already use anabolic steroids from just increasing their dosage? If they take 10 grams already they may increase it to 20 or 30.

“They are known to have a range of serious adverse effects on many organ systems and in many cases the damage is not reversible,” Food and Drug Administration medical officer Ali Mohamadi said. “They include fertility problems, impotence, high blood pressure and cholesterol and heart and liver abnormalities.”

The use of performance-enhancing drugs is not accidental; it is deliberately planned with the sole objective of receiving an unfair advantage.

Pro- Korbl Klimecki

In sports, there is huge pressure to win, to do better, to break records and to turn athletes into machines for athletic success. There are also the gargantuan financial and reputational incentives to be the best. For some, this pressure leads to the use of steroids.

These admissions are met with outrage by many fans.  Is it because it cheapens the sport? Is it perhaps seen as cheating?

Sports are primal, archaic activities, focused on competition and aggression. There is nothing to cheapen.

Many professional athletes make in excess of $1 million dollars a year for these performances. Performance–enhancing drugs cost, on average, $32 on Amazon for a month’s supply. Were they not banned in organized athletics, teams would have a strong interest in providing them. A tool that everyone has access to cannot be considered unfair. Indeed, having great natural ability could be considered unfair in comparison to steroids.

Finally, there is concern for health risks. There are only a handful of people who need to care about an athlete’s health— the athlete, his or her close family and the team investors. Unless you’re betting on an athlete, you have no investment in the athlete’s health, and if you are betting on an athlete’s performance, then steroids could only help your investment.