Admissions by many current and former professional baseball players have shown how rampant the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is in this sport. PEDs include steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) - but there are many more. Professional athletes in football, track and field, hockey and cycling are also known to have used PEDs which aid in building muscle, oxygenating blood and recovering from injuries. The use of steroids is illegal unless prescribed by a doctor for a known medical condition. However, PEDs are easily obtained online, or from unscrupulous doctors or over-the-counter pharmacies in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Steroids are proven to increase muscle mass, especially when combined with proper nutrition and strength training, but they can also cause muscle-tendon injuries and have serious side-effects. These include heart and liver damage, endocrine system problems, elevated cholesterol levels, strokes, aggressive behavior and the shrinkage and dysfunction of genitalia. All our major sports leagues and the International Olympic Committee test their athletes for PEDs. However, HGH is difficult to detect, and newly-developed “designer steroids” and genetically engineered PEDs often evade detection until testing methods catch up with these new substances.

Some say that since PEDs are so prevalent, we should legalize these drugs and enjoy their contributions to player performance and the spectacle of sport. They claim PEDs could then be safely dispensed under medical supervision. Others maintain the use of PEDs is cheating, sets a bad example for our youth, tarnishes the achievements of those who do not use drugs, and is harmful to those who do.

Proposed Legislation: Reintroduction of S.1114 – Clean Sports Act of 2005 (109th Congress 2005-2006)
Prospective Sponsor: Sen. Chuck Grassley (IA)