Steroids in Sports

Sports have become top entertainment of our country and a big source of revenue. There is great competition in each and every sport. Today athletes are bigger and in much better physical shape than when sports in American first became popular. Some athletes are in incredible shape because of illegal use of steroids. Steroid use by athletes present many long term health effects and should be banned in all sports.

Anabolic steroids, commonly known as steroids, are man-made substances related to the male sex hormones. They help increase the growth of the skeletal muscle and the development of male sexual characteristics in both male and female. Some athletes use anabolic steroids to build muscles and improve athletic performance despite the health risk they may cause. Steroid abuse has become so widespread in athletics that it affects the outcome of sports contests. The proper name for these types of performance enhancement drugs is anabolic-androgenic steroids. "Anabolic" refers to muscle-building, "androgenic" refers to increased male sexual characteristics and "steroids" refers to the class of drugs (NIDA Info Facts, 2009, p. 1).

There are several variations of anabolic steroids that have been developed, but only a few have been approved for human use. In the United States, steroids may be legally used for medical reasons with a prescription. The primary medical uses for steroids are to treat delayed puberty, some types of impotence, and wasting of the body caused by HIV infection or other diseases (NIDA Research Report, p. 2). Many of the illegal steroids are smuggled in from other countries, illegally diverted from U.S. pharmacies, or synthesized in secret laboratories (NIDA Research Report, p. 2). Estimates show that there are more than $400 million worth of illegal sales of steroids per year (Goldstein, 1995).

The use of anabolic steroids goes back to the early 20th century. This was before the term steroid was ever used. In the late 1930s, steroids were primarily developed to treat hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes do not produce sufficient testosterone for normal growth, development, and sexual functioning (NIDA Research Report, p. 1). Later, during World War II, scientists found that this artificial form of testosterone could be used to help malnourished soldiers gain weight and improve performance. Scientists discovered that anabolic steroids could enable the growth of skeletal muscle in laboratory animals, which then led to the abuse of the compounds first by bodybuilders and weightlifters and then by athletes in other sports (NIDA Research Report, p. 2).

After World War II, athletes started using steroids to enhance their performance in competitions. In the 1956 Olympics, Soviet athletes, especially wrestlers performed at exceptionally high levels. After learning that those athletes were using testosterone, Dr. Zeigler, an American physician, created a more selective form of what we know as anabolic steroids (Ray and Ksir, 1996). From that time until the 1970s, steroids became more popular beyond the Olympic athletes. Professional sports players and high school athletes began using steroids. In 1975, the International Olympic Committee banned steroid use in Olympic competition. Illegal sales continued to increase in the following years, and in 1988, the first major federal regulation of steroids was introduced as part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which solidifying penalties for the sale and possession of steroids (Ray and Ksir, 1996). A couple years later, Congress passed the Anabolic Steroid Enforcement Act of 1990, which placed anabolic steroids in the same legal class as amphetamines, methamphetamines, opium and morphine. This law put possession punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of at least $1,000. Additionally, selling steroids or even possessing steroids with an intent to sell may face up to five years in prison plus parole and sizable fines (Steroid Law).

There are several types of anabolic steroids used in professional sports. These steroids are categorized according to how they are put into the body. Anabolic steroids can be administered by three means: orally, transdermal, or injection. Oral administration is in the form of pills. Transdermal application is done by rubbing a cream on the skin or using transdermal patches. A person may also use a needle to inject the drug directly into the blood stream or into the muscle. Oral and transdermal administration doesn't necessarily need expert medical help but injections do.

Oral steroids can be detected in the body for several weeks after a person stops taking them. This is enough time to use them as medicines, but still a short time of action compared with injectable steroids. An athlete will continue to use oral drugs even when he or she begins using injectable steroids. Some athletes use orals to make it easier to escape drug test. For example, if there is an event coming up, an athlete may use a short-duration oral steroid, and then stop using it four to six weeks before the event so that the urine won't show steroids during the testing.

Oral steroids are the most popular of all steroid types. One reason is because they work the fastest. Another way is because it's easy and simple to use. All there is to do is to swallow a pill and then the process is done. There are four common orally controlled steroids: anavar, anadrol, dianabol, and winstrol.

Anavar, commonly known as Oxandrolone, is the most popular oral anabolic steroid used today. This is because it's clean and provides high quality strength gains and a noticeable figure hardening (Types of Steroids). The big drawback would be that it's quite expensive. It is well tolerated with few side effects and is one of the mildest on the endocrine system. The biggest problem is if you are using it alone the doses have to be quite high, up to 80 milligrams per day but there aren't any side effects. For those competing this is the steroid of choice because there won't be any unwanted weight gain just nicely developed muscles.

Anadrol, also known as Oxymetholone, is a DHT derived compound that is a 2 hydroxymethylene group. It shares features with many of the DHT based drugs. This is one of the oral steroids that pack the weight on. In the first two to three weeks athletes expect to gain upwards of a pound every day. They might not like water retention but it helps bulk up which is why those elite power lifters use it (Types of Steroids).

High blood pressure is a side effect of Anadrol. Other common side effects include headache, shin cramps, back cramps, and elevated liver enzymes. Generally speaking Anadrol shouldn't be used alone. If it is used with injectable steroids the effects are smoother.

Dianabol, now called Methandronstenolone, is the second anabolic steroid to be produced.