Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports
Human Awareness Essay
Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs be Permitted in Professional Sport?
Stage 2 SACE Biology
Introduction
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport has become a huge issue in all modern codes of sport. In the recent 2012 Olympic games in London, it was suggested that as many as 60% of the athletes were taking illegal drugs. You only have to open the newspaper or turn on the television to discover a new batch of professional athletes that have been caught ‘doping’. Although athletes are regularly drug tested, there have been multiple cases where athletes have been able to cheat the system and return negative results. Australia has been a front-runner in the fight against sports doping, and has even established a …show more content…
Stimulants, as the name suggests, stimulate the Central Nervous System (CNS), to increase heart rate and blood pressure. Athletes use stimulants in an attempt to increase alertness, reduce tiredness, and increase their competitiveness and aggression. Adrenaline and Amphetamines are examples of a naturally occur stimulants, which are both banned in all codes of professional sports globally.
Advantages
As it stands, almost all forms of performance-enhancing drugs are banned, no matter their strength or potency. This can catch athletes off guard, as substances that are considered illegal in the eyes of sporting authorities, are often found in common antibiotics and medicines. Permitting the use of all performance enhancing drugs would take away this grey area, and allow athletes to use any forms of personal medication without having to fear being caught ‘cheating’.
As well as this, the permission to use performance-enhancing drugs would allow athletes the freedom to improve their performance by any means, without being persecuted. Professor Robert Smith of Hamilton University suggested that no one has the right to tell athletes what they can and cannot …show more content…
A sport that is considered free of performance-enhancing drugs tends to have a good reputation, especially when compared to sports such as cycling and swimming where the use of performance-enhancing drugs is considered rife. By permitting the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the public perception of these drugs, especially surrounding youth, could be flipped, with people believing that it is ‘okay’ and ‘normal’ to use drugs that are very bad for a persons health. Recent statistics from the Health Research Funding organisation show that, among American teenagers who use steroids, 60% were encouraged into practice because of a professional that was taking these drugs. All of these teenagers went on to say that it was the right of a professional athlete to be able to use these drugs, no matter the cost to their
Should Performance-Enhancing Drugs be Permitted in Professional Sport?
Stage 2 SACE Biology
Introduction
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport has become a huge issue in all modern codes of sport. In the recent 2012 Olympic games in London, it was suggested that as many as 60% of the athletes were taking illegal drugs. You only have to open the newspaper or turn on the television to discover a new batch of professional athletes that have been caught ‘doping’. Although athletes are regularly drug tested, there have been multiple cases where athletes have been able to cheat the system and return negative results. Australia has been a front-runner in the fight against sports doping, and has even established a …show more content…
Stimulants, as the name suggests, stimulate the Central Nervous System (CNS), to increase heart rate and blood pressure. Athletes use stimulants in an attempt to increase alertness, reduce tiredness, and increase their competitiveness and aggression. Adrenaline and Amphetamines are examples of a naturally occur stimulants, which are both banned in all codes of professional sports globally.
Advantages
As it stands, almost all forms of performance-enhancing drugs are banned, no matter their strength or potency. This can catch athletes off guard, as substances that are considered illegal in the eyes of sporting authorities, are often found in common antibiotics and medicines. Permitting the use of all performance enhancing drugs would take away this grey area, and allow athletes to use any forms of personal medication without having to fear being caught ‘cheating’.
As well as this, the permission to use performance-enhancing drugs would allow athletes the freedom to improve their performance by any means, without being persecuted. Professor Robert Smith of Hamilton University suggested that no one has the right to tell athletes what they can and cannot …show more content…
A sport that is considered free of performance-enhancing drugs tends to have a good reputation, especially when compared to sports such as cycling and swimming where the use of performance-enhancing drugs is considered rife. By permitting the use of performance-enhancing drugs, the public perception of these drugs, especially surrounding youth, could be flipped, with people believing that it is ‘okay’ and ‘normal’ to use drugs that are very bad for a persons health. Recent statistics from the Health Research Funding organisation show that, among American teenagers who use steroids, 60% were encouraged into practice because of a professional that was taking these drugs. All of these teenagers went on to say that it was the right of a professional athlete to be able to use these drugs, no matter the cost to their