Free Custom «Legalization of Anabolic Steroids» Essay Paper

Anabolic steroids are kind of artificial or synthetic testosterone form; this is the hormones that identify the sex of a human being. They are therefore known as anabolic-androgenic steroids which refer to a chemical that boosts the mass of the muscle and the male sexual characteristics. Initially they were developed for medicinal purposes (Genetics for Dummies). This paper discusses about anabolic steroids in the United States and will eventually argue for their legalization in the U.S. by profiling the advantages of using them (by adult males).

The history of the development of testosterone dates back in the 19^th century when a scientist named Arnold Berthold, a German, performed an operation to remove testes from birds and noted that they lost some of their male characteristics as a result. He as well noted that when they were implanted on the abdomen of these birds, they did not lose as much of their characteristics. This led to a conclusion that the testes of a male creatures acts on blood to give the organism its male characteristics. In 1935, a successful attempt to extract testosterone from a bull succeeded and a year later; a scientist by the name Ruzicka as well as other two scientists (Butenandt and Hanisch) synthesized the compound from cholesterol. Other forms of the steroids were developed later in the years. The use of steroids in sport was first noted in 1954 when John Ziegler (a physician) from the Soviet Union won several gold medals and broke world records in weight lifting classes. The Americans on learning that he had used testosterones were also eager to create a more powerful product in order to defeat the Soviets. Tests were carried out to determine their effects on athletics and initially they showed no effect whatsoever but later when the design of the study was improved, they showed a significant effect on the athletics. In 1967, the use of steroid was banned by the International Olympic Council and few years later many sporting organizations had banned the use of steroids (Anabolic Steroids - Steroid).

Steroids come in different forms and “andros” is one of them. Their effects are the retention of nitrogen in the muscles and thus enhancing the circulation of the testosterone and thus the body recovers quickly and their development is enhanced.This enables the athletics to work out more often due to the quick recovery of the muscle after work out. The overall effect is an enhanced muscle growth and increased strength. Steroids enhance the regeneration of muscle tissues after an intensive exercise and therefore enable a person to work out more intensively; this will result to the development of muscles and strength. The benefits of using steroids are real. Within a few weeks of using steroids the body responses start to be noticed. The bigger question is why limit you performance while you can go supernova in your field of sporting. There has been proven successful careers in sports with success tied to the use of steroids. It is everyone dreams to become a star amongst the peers and the presence of a drug that does exactly that has been embraced by majority of young adults.

The use of steroids is not restricted to men alone, women as well use steroids too. The effects on women are more conspicuous, the body fat is low, lean but strong body. It also heightens a woman’s self-esteem and can easily capture the attention of the opposite sex. Her sex drive can as well be boosted by the use of these steroids. The biological effect is that the body experiences improved nitrogen utilization; this boosts the concentration of the plasma amino acids which in turn facilitate the digestion of the proteins and reduce the nitrogen excretion. The benefits to females using the steroids are more in the social rewards like winning of prizes and scholarships followed by approval of the people (especially men) around them. It has also been documented that the use of steroids can boost a woman’s self-esteem and thus helps reduce her susceptibility to other drug abuse (Yesalis, 2000).

The truth of the matter is that we want our athletes to succeed and this can be greatly enhanced using steroids this is because we put pressure on them to perform extra ordinary, and we pay heftily on the extra ordinary stars regardless of the course making the status to be more covetable. This has been evidence in the number of players who have failed drug anabolic steroids (Yesalis, 2000).

The idea of legalizing steroid at this moment should be welcomed. This is because despite the heavy penalties imposed by the offenders of the law illegalizing their use, thousands of people continue to use it, the drug availability is enhanced by the fact that the drug is legal in Mexico and thus it is smuggled to the U.S. This has resulted to the sale of dangerous drug which is neither tested nor regulated. The idea of random test for the drug is often faced with criticism with people arguing that it violates the right to privacy. This has seen investors putting up secret laboratories within the US as well as outside the country; selling is done in a mature black market that has developed for the last 20 years since the law to illegalize it was adapted in 1990. This has sprouted many complications, for instance, when it was criminalized, there were shortages in the supply and the users took other combined compounds that were meant for animal treatment. Thus they are unable to use it with good guidance (LeVert, 2005).

Other issues advocating for its legalization includes the fact that testing is only done to athletics thus leaving the other users free to use (untested steroids). This is complimented by the fact that there is controversy as to whether testing is legal; it contravenes the right to privacy and seizure thus the implementer is required to obtain a court order in order to do so. This is unless it is a matter of public safety. The argument against legalizing cites unfair competition and the fact that the abusers will always be there.

There has been several side effects that are associated with the use of the drug, these includes, impaired judgments, depression and as a result suicidal behavior, and the vulnerability to engaging in other drug abuse especially after withdrawing from their use. The problem is that the benefits and the side effects contradict each other creating a contentious ground for those in support and those against.

Conclusion

Legalizing anabolic steroids will allow the government to monitor their production and safe usage. This will also facilitate the study of the side effects and the advantages as there will be sufficient data available. The usage can then be discouraged through media campaigns just like the case of cigarettes, highlighting the dangers posed by their use. This is a win-win situation for both the supporters of use and those who oppose.