Why We Should Drug Test In Sports

853 Words4 Pages
Why We Should Drug Test in Sports Many professional athletes of this day in age are accused of “doping,” which is the illegal use of steroids. Steroids are illegal substances that increase the effect that working out has on a person’s body, and they also have mental effects to the user. Theses substances are banned from all professional sports, but the leagues don’t always have mandatory drug tests, which allow athletes to get away with using drugs. All athletes should be drug tested at all levels of sports to prove they are obeying the laws, playing fair, and are not using banned performance-enhancing substances, without any exceptions to this rule. San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds finished the 2001 MLB season with 73 home runs, shattering Mark McGuire’s record (Porterfield, 6). Barry Bonds had a rare combination of speed and power, making him to be considered one of the best players in baseball at the time. In 2001, Bonds had developed a more masculine physique, which he attributed to hours of hard work spent in the gym (Porterfield, 7). After that season, Bonds started to get accused of using steroids, but Bonds denied that he was using any type of performance-enhancing drug (Porterfield, 8). Since this scandal, there have been many changes to the drug testing policies in the MLB. In 2003, the MLB started random drug testing. Beginning in 2005, a positive test resulted in a ten game suspension for first offenses, a thirty game suspension for second offenses, and a sixty game suspension for the third offense. In 2006, that policy changed to a fifty game suspension after the first offense, a one-hundred game suspension after second offenses, and then banned for life after third offenses (Porterfield, 10). While evidence shows that professional sports leagues are trying to put an end to drug use by players, the drug testing is not nearly strict enough

More about Why We Should Drug Test In Sports

Open Document