Performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) do just what their name says, they improve an athlete’s performance by altering or improving certain functions of the human body. The debate between the pros and cons of using such drugs has been going on for years now. I believe that using performance enhancing drugs will be detrimental to the athlete’s ultimate health, provide unfair competition and will send a negative image to aspiring athletes.
A plethora of the cons of performance enhancing drugs mostly deals with an athlete’s health risk and unfair advantages. Even though the drugs will make an athlete seem like a present-day superstar, they will no doubt be facing the consequences of their actions later in life. The effects go from severe acne and balding to heart and liver damage, blood clots and other bodily malfunctions. Suffering from this many health problems is not worth the short time of fame these athletes may receive.
Not only do these drugs allow for unfair competition, it sends out a horrible message. While some athletes are working hard to perfect their craft, all someone has to do is take a PED and they could become better than that person in a matter of days. A dishonest action like this could discourage someone because while it has taken them years to perfect a certain skill, with the assist of drugs, someone has instantly obtained this skill. Then other players will desire to try them, so that they too may receive fast results instead of having to work hard. This sends out a terrible message to future athletes because it’s conveying that it’s better to take the easy way out.
When drugs are not in use, players learn discipline, earn respect and understand what it means to start from the bottom and make their way to the top while learning about staying humble. Introducing drugs will mean that players will no longer set themselves on a journey to get better and will not know what it means to achieve true success.
What athletes fail to realize is that these drugs are not guaranteed to work 100% of the time. Instead of enhancing an athletic performance, they can also cripple it. Different drugs come with different side effects. For instance, some effects include muscle cramps, exhaustion, dizziness and in some cases depression. Athletes overlook this information when they are taking the drugs because they think it will not affect them in that way or that they will remain healthy even after they have taken many doses.
Performance Enhancing Drugs should not be allowed or accepted in any sport. The point of playing a sport is to learn patience, perfect a craft by working hard and push through difficult times to ultimately showcase what you have learned. Grasping a concept instantly because of drugs is not going to teach any athlete a life lesson and will not help to motivate others to reach their highest potential. Not to mention these drugs will cause health problems later down the line and could affect someone severely. Lastly, it is sending out a negative and lazy message to any up and coming athletes. Instead of teaching them to never give up, they are teaching that if things get too hard, you should use drugs to help you do better. This is unfair and should not be allowed in the world of sports.