Ped's

9 Pages 2190 Words

Athletics are as much a part of American Culture as Democracy and Rock and Roll. Professional athletes are heroes to our youth and to us. They are not judged on their character but from their performance on the field. Many times we fail to see what the athlete must do to achieve greatness on the field. For some it is through hard work and gifts they’ve have been given, but for some it takes certain Performance enhancing Drugs (PED’s) to give them that extra edge. Sports even become a religion for some Americans the only church they attend on Sundays have concessions stands and cheerleaders. Even our English language is filled with clichés from athletics such as give 110% or Win at all cost. It’ this ideal of winning at all cost that supports a billion dollar performance enhancing drug industry. For anyone who has ever laced up the skates or stepped into the batters box or went deep for a pass knows that when you are an athlete there is a special feeling that you receive in winning. For some people obtaining that feeling becomes greater then the game itself and they will do anything to obtain that feeling. For others they see professional athletes obtaining great goals only to find out that they have been helped along the way by performance enhancing drugs or steroids. This is the monster that drives the Performance Enhancing Drugs industry. PED’s are consumed by millions of Americans a year because they see Olympic and professional athletes using them to achieve greatness and fame and we all know that Americans like to emulate are sports heroes. As Americans we also like to believe we are the best at everything we do and we will do whatever it takes to become the best.

Many people look at the growing PED problem as a recently developing problem beginning in the 1990’s. This is as wrong as most of the misconceptions about PED’s. Although it is true that PED’s have developed a lot since the 1990’s, athletes have been u...