Michael+W.+-+POSITION+PAPER


 * Research question **

How does the sporting industry deal with the constant demand for athletic enhancement?


 * Thesis statement **

Professional athletes have created an arms race for athletic enhancement and the sporting industry tries to prevent it from getting out of hand with drug tests and suspensions but their solutions to the problem still aren't effective.

Professional athletes today are under more stress to become athletically enhanced than those 50 years ago. Today steroids have become a regular thing in American society because with more people using them it makes others feel that they **need** to use them to keep up with everyone else. A perfect example is Tim Montgomery, who broke the record for the 100m dash in 2002. He was stripped of this record because Tim "[was] one of several top U.S. track athletes who [were] be banned from competition for life for alleged use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs" (Jost). Today, in all sports, athletes are using these performance-enhancing drugs to artificially augment their capability. These "drugs" can have very negative effects not only on the players but also in the sporting industry. "Drug use by athletes has prodded sports governing bodies in the United States and abroad to take corrective action" (Worsnop). With this constant need for enhancement officials really need to crack down on these athletes to prevent widespread damage. This problem is becoming an arms race that needs to be avoided.

For a long time now professional athletes in sports have tried to find the best ways to enhance their ability. Of course most of the athletes have taken the traditional route by exercising and working out. However, anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs have been being used for a long time. The beginning of these drugs dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. Romans consumed body organs believing it would give them special abilities and Greeks ate mushrooms. Also, gladiators "took stimulants to enable them to keep fighting despite fatigue and injury" (Worsnop). Basically enhancing yourself artificially has been around for a long time. Although over the years the problem has become increasingly worse. "From that time to the present, use of performance-enhancing drugs has grown steadily" (Worsnop). Now there are no lion hearts or mushrooms, just toxic substances that somewhat improve a person's athletic ability.

By now athletic-enhancement drugs are a regular thing in sports whether it be at the high school, collegiate, or professional level. Around 1900 people started trying to stimulate themselves by using substances ranging from caffeine to cocaine. "But the isolation of the male hormone testosterone in the 1930s paved the way for more sophisticated chemical agents known as anabolic steroids" (Jost). Today there is a need for this substance because professional sports have turned into an arms race. Professional athletes are constantly fighting for the best artillery which in this case is how strong you are. By now the old-fashioned workout isn't enough for a lot of athletes so they turn to steroids in order to elevate their skills. However, these drugs can have very negative effects and government officials try to do all they can to limit the use of them. "Nearly three-quarters of America's biggest companies require job applicants to undergo urinalysis — up from only 21 percent a decade ago" (Koch). This goes for all sports professionals too. The government is trying to do all it can to prevent the use of these stimulants. Unfortunately the use of them has vastly increased and is still increasing. It is a problem we will have to face.

The problem of steroid-like substances has been around since about 780 BC. When the Olympics started, men were competing for huge money so they would use hallucinogens in order to help themselves compete at a higher level. "Most forms of what we would call cheating were perfectly acceptable to them" (Jenkins). Nobody back then saw this as a bad thing at all. This thought continued until 1904 when the Thomas Hicks incident occurred. "In 1904 Olympics marathon runner, Thomas Hicks, was using a mixture of brandy and strychnine [a stimulant that is fatal in high doses] and nearly died" (Gold). When Hicks almost died it really struck people at how bad these mixtures could really be. In reaction to this, in 1928 the International Association of Athletics Federation (governing body of track and field) was the first to prohibit the use of these substances. Unfortunately that was the only thing they could do at the time because drug testing had not been invented yet. Drug testing didn't come into play in the US until the late 1980s.

1958 was the year that escalated this problem to what it is today. In 1958 the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of anabolic steroids. John Ziegler created the first anabolic steroid called Dianabol which was the one approved by the FDA. He tested these on wrestlers before he let the drug out. "Testosterone functions both //anabolically//—building muscle and stimulating growth—and //androgenically//—developing sex organs and other sex characteristics" (Peters). Unfortunately the sex organ development was a lot more of a problem than they thought. Anabolic steroids had side effects that included liver problems, female and male reproductive systems problems, cardiovascular problems, psychological problems, etc. Also not to mention the fact that athletes were artificially enhancing their abilities at the same time. With all this surrounding anabolic steroids something had to be done. "Anabolic steroids were added to the IOC's list of banned substances because a test that is considered to be reliable was developed" (Verroken). Once this test for anabolic steroids was developed they could be banned because they had a way of telling if people were using them or not. Now their was an efficient way to stop the use of these substances.

Unfortunately there are easy ways of getting past drug tests. Also steroids are easy to obtain. "Yet anecdotal reports from around the country indicate steroids are as easy to obtain as before—perhaps even more so" (Worsnop). One struggle for drug enforcement officials is that steroids in the US are sent in from other countries such as Mexico. The Mexican drug cartel cannot be prevented right now. Also most athletes get steroids from the black market. "In the study, “black market” was defined as other athletes and gym owners or managers" (Worsnop). It's difficult to stop players from receiving drugs when their trainers and coaches are giving them the drugs. To top it all off it is easy for player to get around taking drug tests. This is a big problem that needs to be fixed.

Today the sporting industry has turned into an arms race. Professional athletes constantly are competing for the best equipment which in this case is strength and athleticism. "Unfortunately, that creates some athletes who are determined to win at any cost" (New York Gov). To help them achieve this goal they try to find the fastest ways to become more athletic and they do this by consuming performance-enhancing substances. This is something that the sporting industry needs to slow down before it gets out of hand. If this continued without anybody stopping it, it could get to the point that it couldn’t be repaired because ninety percent of professional athletes could be using them. “Sometimes drug use costs athletes their careers” (Worsnop). This shouldn’t just be sometimes, if professionals are caught using these drugs then the smallest penalty should be a year’s suspension. Officials in sports really need to start to crack down and it needs to happen now.

The way the sporting industry should face the constant need for athletic enhancement and the arms race in sports is to heighten the consequences involving steroid use. Honestly the penalties aren’t harsh enough. In baseball “The first positive test will result in a suspension of up to ten days” (Doyle). If the AOA really wants to prevent the use of steroids then they need to crack down and enforce laws that will scare athletes into not using them. The first time they are caught should not just be ten days, it should either be a year’s minimum suspension or kicked out of the league in severe cases. These drugs are not only bad for sports but for the players health; this is the main reason why people need to make these laws harder because a person’s health is much more important than cheating in sports. This is my stance on the topic because people should punish athletes for taking these in order to protect them. Steroids, like other performance-enhancing drugs such as Ephedra, can cause death. “In the wake of more than 150 deaths linked to Ephedra in the last 10 years, the supplement was finally banned last spring” (Triplett) Ephedra is a weight-loss pill that athletes have used in the past. This is a problem that has become serious and I have come up with a solution for it.

My solution for this problem is that the sporting industry’s officials need to crack down a thousands times harder to prevent the us of steroids by athletes. These officials are just too lenient right now on the athletes. With the punishment of only 10 days of suspension just isn’t enough to cut it. In order too prevent or decrease the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports the penalty for being caught should be at least a year of suspension and if they are caught a second time they shouldn’t be allowed to play anymore. I also belive drug tests should become a regular thing in professional sports. “Many authorities on sports medicine say the drug-taker will always be a step or two ahead of the drug-tester, if only because new drugs and new masking agents keep appearing on the market” (Worsnop) Drug tests are only performed 0-3 times a year on athletes and it gives them too much of a window to “mask” that they are taking drugs. Another part of my solution is that drug tests should be performed on every player at least 5 times a year and if they don’t pass they will be penalized. “When athletes are caught with banned substances in their urine, they often say the laboratory made an error or sabotage occurred” (Worsnop) If an athlete testifies that it must have been a mistake then they should just be tested again. With my solution fewer people will get by drug tests and they will be too afraid to take them do to the severe consequences. I feel this is a better path to take than the way they are going at it now.

Although I believe all those things there are some people that believe drug tests aren’t credible. Most of their views consist of athletes being able to get around drug testing easily or athletes feeling they are unfair. “They are deemed unfair because athletes are responsible for knowing what is banned despite the fact that additions are made almost daily to the list of banned substances” (The Athlete). All of this is very true. Drug test are easy to get around and the can be a little unfair, they also cost a lot of money. Their arguments are valid in a lot of ways.

There are also people whom back up my stance on the topic and believe drug test are valid. In sports they hold on to urine samples for up to eight years after testing because “the stored specimen could be tested for [a] specific substance and the athlete would be held accountable” (Wadler). Even if drug tests are not good at the time, the same test could be looked over after better things are invented. Therefore drug tests are eventually at some point reliable.

To reinstate my stance I point out that athletes should not be using substances that were banned for a reason anyways and if they are caught using one that was just added to the list they could explain their situation. I also state that with my solution of numerous tests a year, no one could get by the tests because with tests being looked over again with different technology and more tests no substance could get past, it would eventually be detected. I believe that the tests are fair because an athlete should know which substances not to take even if they are not on the list of banned substances. Therefore drug tests are reliable and my solution is correct.

Another argument is that drug tests are not efficient. It is proven that about 8 out of 11000 athletes at the Olympics tested positive for drug use. “The number of positive tests is an extremely poor indicator of the prevalence of doping” (Waddington) Many people believe that these numbers really point out that drug tests are ineffective and a waste of money. I don’t believe that at all.

There are also people who believe that drug tests are valid and the only thing that is not reliable are those numbers. “The detection methods are accurate and reliable. They undergo rigorous validation prior to being introduced.” (Wadler) As I mentioned before, even if they are not reliable at the time they hold on to samples until newer tests come out and test them again. Therefore these tests are valid.

Unlike Professor Waddington, I like to look at the glass half full. When he says only 8 out of 11000 tests tested positive I like to say that that means these tests strike fear in athletes and they stop taking them before tests. If that is true my solution of year-round testing would prevent them from taking them year-round because of all the tests. I believe that these numbers are good indicators of what is to come with my solution. Another argument against my solution is that a life ban isn't right. Some people believe that life bans are too harsh because steroids aren't the biggest problem, they feel that other substances that are legal should be banned because they cause more deaths. "Then why doesn't he [baseball commissioner Bud Selig] a lifetime ban for anyone using alcohol of tobacco? They account for 500,000 deaths each year in America in America, which is about 500,000 more than deaths due to anabolic steroids" (Fost) He feels that steroids aren't dangerous enough to cause a life ban in sports.

The commissioner has good ideas because we need to strike fear in players to force them to stop using steroids. Steroids are deadly and anything that can cause health problems like that should be banned. Tobacco and alcohol are deadly but they don't improve a players ability. The commissioner's ideas are "to suspend, ban for life, or possibly even send players to prison like Barry Bonds" (Fost) Steroids are illegal for a reason and they should have a big penalty.

I believe that Dr. Fost is true but incorrect on this topic. Yes, tobacco and alcohol are very bad for you and deadly but they are legal and they certainly don't improve your athletic ability. Steroids are illegal for a reason and that is why they should have such a huge penalty. Also the reason more people die from alcohol and tobacco is that people become easily addicted to them and a lot more people use tobacco and alcohol than steroids. Steroids can be just as bad for you as these substances and they also are illegal so that is why steroids should have the ban. If Norman Fost wants to ban tobacco and alcohol he will have to take it up with the US government.

In memo 5, 6, and 7 others tried to argue that drug tests weren't effective or credible and penalties are already too harsh and unjust. My solution for steroid use is to increase the number of drug tests per person every year and harshen the penalties for using them. Steroids are dangerous and to prevent the usage of them we need to scare profession athletes into not using them. This problem has been around for a very long time, dating back to around 10000 BC. In today's society everyone knows what steroids are because it seems that everyday there is a new steroid scandal. With my solutions steroids will become a less common thing. If you are going to get a life ban then what's the point of taking steroids because if you get caught you can never play again and you purpose to take steroids goes unused. Steroids really has become a problem and we as a society need to put an end to it. It is just another thing that uncovers the true weakness of the human race. "We'll never be able to do that perfectly, because people will discover new drugs and new ways of disguising drug use." (Worsnop) Well I believe we can and if we are going to take action we have to do it soon. It is time to stop this terrible problem.


 * ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY **

"Anabolic Steroids and Sports: Winning at any Cost." //New York State Department of Health//. NY.gov, 8 Mar. 2008. Web. 23 Apr. 2012.

This secondary article has an anonymous author but it is on the New York Department of Health's web site which is a source that gives information about things relating with health in the world. This article talks about the use and production of anabolic steroids around the country. It is a good source for me because it gives me good info on the desire to consume steroids.

Fost, Norman. "Sports and Drugs."//CQ Researcher// 23 July 2004: 613-36. Web. 27 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source is written by Norman Fost, a specialist in bioethics and Pediatrics. This article talks about why Fost is against big suspensions for steroid use. It helps me because it is an argument against my solution.

Gold, Mark S. //Performance-Enhancing Medications and Drugs of Abuse//. New York City: The Haworth Medical Press, 2007. Print.

This book is a secondary source and it is written written by Mark Gold, an editor for Haworth Medical Press. The book covers the history of illegal substance in sports. It is helpful to me because it gives me background on my solution to the problem.

Koch, Kathy. "Drug Testing." //CQ Researcher// 20 Nov. 1998: 1001-24. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source from CQ Researcher is written by Kathy Koch, a celebrated speaker and author that got a Ph.D. in reading and educational psychology from Purdue. This article contains information on the history and effects on society of drug testing. This article gives me a good overview of how to correct the topic I am focusing on.

Jenkins, Sally. "Winning, Cheating Have Ancient Roots." //The Washington Post// 3 Aug. 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

This secondary web article is written by Sally Jenkins, a sports columnist for The Washington Post. This article covers the origin of the use of stimulants in sports and the influence of them ever since. This article gives me good information on how and why stimulants began to be used in sports.

Jost, Kenneth. "Sports and Drugs." //CQ Researcher// 23 July 2004: 613-36. Web. 9 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source from CQ Researcher is written by Kenneth Jost who attended Harvard and Georgetown and was a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean and an editor for the Los Angeles Daily Journal. This article covers the history of steroids in sports, the effects of steroids, and how they are cracking down on the use of steroids. This article gives me some background info and it supports my stance on the topic which will help me with my case.

Peters, Justin. "The Man Behind the Juice." //Slate// 18 Feb. 2005. Web. 12 Apr. 2012.

This secondary web article is written by Justin Peters, the managing editor of the //Columbia Journalism Review.// This article talks about how steroids were created. The article gives me information on how the main problem that we are facing today (anabolic steroids) started.

Triplett, William. "Dietary Supplements." //CQ Researcher// 3 Sept. 2004: 709-32. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source is written by William Triplett, a journalist who covered science and the arts for such publications as //Smithsonian//, //Air & Space//, //Washingtonian//, //Nature// and //The Washington Post//. This article overviews the bulk of dietary supplements and their usage around the world. This article gives me good info on Ephedra and Steroids.

Verroken, Michelle. "Drugs in Sports." //British Library Cataloguing// 1988. eBook. 12 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source is written by Michelle Verroken, an author of many eBooks for students. This book covers everything from the history to the effects of steroids. It will provide me with information about everything I need to know about this topic.

Waddington, Ivan. "Sports and Drugs." //ProCon.org// 6 May 2009. Web. 25 Apr 2012.

This secondary article is written by Ivan Waddington, a professor at the University of Chester. This article covers how ineffective drug tests can be and why the sporting industry needs to stop using them. I can use this article as an argument against my solution so I can then reaffirm my stance.

Wadler, Gary. "Sports and Drugs." //ProCon.org// 6 May 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2010.

This secondary article is written by Gary I. Wadler, the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency. This article covers how effective drug tests can be. This article helps me in my rebuttal that more drug tests can be effective especially when they are reliable.

Worsnop, Richard L. "Athletes and Drugs." //CQ Researcher// 26 July 1991: 513-36. Web. 9 Apr. 2012.

This secondary encyclopedia source from CQ Researcher is written by Richard L. Worsnop who is an associate editor of the database. This article talks about what types of drugs are used by athletes, the drugs effects on the human body, how long drug use has taken place in sports, different views towards the use of these drugs, and policies against the use of these substances. This article has given me the bulk of my information and will help me in developing my paper.