Cheating your way to the top
Argumentative Essay Most would agree that the majority of all athletes are exceedingly competitive and strive to be number one. Ambitious athletes work to great extents to achieve their goals. They swim lap after lap, lift weights until their arms feel like they could fall off, and run until their legs just collapse. Even though this may seem intense, it’s healthy and all the exercise is good for your body. To some athletes, however, working hard just isn’t enough. Some take their competitiveness to such extremes that they’re willing to put their body in jeopardy. 40-50% of athletes use a drug called steroids. Athletes use this drug to enhance performance and physically better themselves. Why is this problem? Use of steroids is not only illegal and considered cheating, but users are severely hurting themselves with the long term effects this drug can potentially cause. Personally, I believe that all athletes ranging from professionals to high school students should be required to take and pass a drug test before being accepted onto a team or able to play the sport they desire to. Some athletes might argue that the drug is harmless and it is only used to help them better themselves. These people are highly uninformed. Some side effects of steroids can be severe, others are just simply unattractive. Short term side effects as well as long term side effects can occur. Short term side effects include “roid rage” or excessive aggressiveness which occurs when the circuits in the brain that are responsible for impulse control are influenced by steroids, it affects this system which causes aggressive responses, making some abusers vulnerable to violent outbursts. Another common short term side effect is the highly unattractive onset of acne or, in adolescents where acne is typically already present, a much more severe case can occur. Steroids enlarge certain glands in the skin. Then, they cause these glands to increase what is called sebum, or oil production which essentially leads to acne. Long term side effects include liver failure. Medically known as Peliosis Hepatitis, a condition in which blood-filled cysts replace liver and spleen tissue have been reported in many abusers of steroids. These cysts can lead to liver failure. During the course of steroid use, the cysts can create tumors. These tumors are less apparent and cannot be undetected until a life-threatening abdominal hemorrhage occurs. HIV is one of the deadliest long term side effects which is often completely unknown or simply ignored by a majority of abusers. The extensively unhygienic sharing of needles, combined with a heightened sex drive due to excess in hormones can be a very dangerous combination. This is especially true in adolescent teens and young adults who tend to have poor decision-making skills and a high susceptibility to peer pressure. HIV and AIDS-related deaths are becoming more and more common in steroid abusers. These are only some examples of a certainly long, shocking list of steroid side effects. The medical issues about steroids are fairly straightforward, but what about the fact that using them is completely unacceptable in any sport? Using steroids is just like cheating on a test. Since steroids work so well to enhance physical performance, they create an unfair advantage for those who take them. They make you bigger, faster, and stronger, which essentially breaks the social contract all athletes must agree to: A fair contest. Steroids allow us to do things that we naturally