Legalizing Steroids

A Stronger Ball Game

LOOKING BACK• The MLB banned steroids in 1991

but did not implement any regulations until 2003.

• Players, such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, have been accused of using steroids due to the increased number home runs.

Positive Effects of Steroids

• Steroids are natural synthetic compounds that help regulate bodily functions we use to maintain a healthy system.

• The positive aspects of steroids include increased muscle mass, tissue repair, endurance and fat loss. Someone who is using steroids will find great benefits from their workouts and can add inches on their muscles quickly.

Increasing Male Hormones • “Among other things the positive effects of

steroids include increased muscle mass, tissue repair, endurance and fat loss” (LeMouse).

• Playing 162 games in a season is not only hard to keep healthy but it is also difficult to keep your strength up as the season goes, this is where steroids have a huge impact. The steroids allow players to maintain and even gain muscle mass to allow the body to recover quicker.

Entertainment Business

• NBC sports estimates that 1.01 billion people watch baseball combined between live at the game and on TV every year.

• Allowing steroids does not guarantee that this value of entertainment will go up, however with bigger, faster, and stronger players it would be hard to imagine anything other than the game to be more entertaining.

Business Opportunities

• With these substances at higher demand, they can be sold for a higher value then they currently are. As this increases so does the business for the ballparks.

• A health technician stated, “Money is being made, home runs are being hit, speeds in the peloton are increasing, and the growth of the sport is happening” (Solito).

Physical Therapist Interview

• The therapist claims, “I would definitely support the legalization of steroids in the MBL. It's all about keeping things in moderation, and in my opinion a small dosage of steroids in sports would only help.”

• This anonymous therapist had admitted that he had taking steroids in college playing baseball and he sees many college athletes taking these supplements..

• Allowing players to take a substance to dramatically increase their performance level and strength will increase the level of competition.

• Smaller players will be able to measure up against the bigger players on a power standpoint.

Game Physique

NO More “Cheating”

• Doctor Norman Fost, director of the bioethics program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, believes, “Drug-testing policies in professional sports are completely illogical, and the placement of drugs on the banned substance list is quite arbitrary” (Stevens).

• It would eliminate issues with the Hall of Fame and if a player decides to help his body recover.

Why Ban Steroids?

• To everything athletes choose to do or use there is always a negative to some positive, its just about balance and moderation.

• As stated in a magazine, “they really don’t want to have to police themselves in that sense and bring discipline against a star player” (Silverman). It is always up to the athlete to do what they wish having the option to take these performance-enhancing drugs if they wish.

Legalize Steroids

• Players are always looking for that competitive edge and steroids are a perfect way to get that over your competition and be the best that you can be.

• Steroids are a path to a new form of baseball, a better form of baseball and would help the game immensely by making it more entertaining, driving up revenue and by creating more of a level playing field.

Works Cited • Anonymous. Personal Interview. 11 January 2015.• "Drug Policy Coverage." Major League Baseball.

N.p., n.d. Web. 12 January2015.• LeMouse, Mack. "Positive Effects of Steroids." n.

page. Web. 11 January 2015.• Silverman, Robert. "Maybe We Should Just Legalize

Steroids For Pro Athletes." The Daily Beast. N.p., 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 January 2015.

• Solito, Steve. "Steroids Use Should Be Allowed In Sports." Stevesolito. N.p., Jan. 2013. Web. 12 January 2015.

• Stevens, Chris. "Stevens: Steroids in Pro Sports? Maybe It’s Time to Say ‘yes’." Midland Daily News. N.p., 18 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 January 2015.