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Amateur Athletes Must Exercise Caution If They Opt To Use anabolic steroids

Steroids are plagued by a wealth of disinformation, notoriety and bad press. Without a doubt, some of it is deserved. The sporting world in particular has been rocked by controversy, with a seemingly endless parade of disqualifications, accusations, nullified records and even early deaths blamed on the abuse of anabolic steroids.

Why is it that steroids have become such an inflammatory subject? They’re hardly new after all, so you’d think that the various sports regulatory bodies would have figured out a workable policy on their use by now. There is no cut and dry answer to why the steroid issue remains an issue and at least part of the blame lies in the reluctance of sports officials to take a stand if it means potentially losing their marquee players. Most leagues stalled and held off on imposing steroid use policies while players went ahead and experimented. With no official rules or at best, lax rules about steroid use in place, some players took the risk of using steroids as they sought an advantage over their competitors. The fans loved the players who became bigger, more imposing, and began to dominate their game, breaking records that had stood for decades on a regular basis. Some players took it to the next level and went from using to abusing. Everyone knew or at least suspected that steroids were being used, but no-one wanted to risk having fans lose interest if the dominant players were banned.

Which brings us to where we are today. The Olympics is stripping competitors of medals months and even years after they one them as doping tests finally catch up to masking techniques. The health of players and the validity of record books has become increasingly important to the public, perhaps more so than the endless smashing of records, and so players who buy anabolic steroids now do so at increased risk of being punished for their actions, or snubbed by their fans. Their viability as a role model will take a hit. Will sports ever return to a level playing field? It’s doubtful now that the genie is out of the bottle. The best solution may be to set limits in the professional leagues and allow players to use if they wish, within those limits.

But would that put pressure on amateur athletes to use steroids if they wish to make the leap to pro status? A professional athlete using steroids, or any other performance enhancing drug, would at least be doing so under the very close supervision of team doctors. An asset like a professional athlete is treated like an investment that no team would willingly risk, so medical staff would be involved in every step of the process and the product used would be of stellar quality. The average amateur athlete who opted to use steroids would not have the benefit of this scrutiny. Thus, the onus is on the fitness buff to ensure his or her doctor is fully involved and that a trusted company is used to buy steroids. Anyone considering this option needs to educate themselves about the various steroid drugs that are available, the legality of different versions and the side effects they might be risking.

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