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Performance Enhancing Drugs! |
The commonality, presence, and abuse of performance-enhancing drugs in the realm of professional sports have called much media attention in recent years. The mystique and allure of performance-enhancing drugs attract many professional athletes but it is important to note that studies conducted in 2003 demonstrate the affect of steroid usage on adolescents, a common steroid user, to be detrimental to heart structure and function in male strength athletes such as wrestlers and weightlifters.
There is a clear link between performance-enhancing drug use and desired success in athletics. It would be highly beneficial for news directors, journalists, and entertainment writers to consider presenting facts and stories which show a variety of scenarios and characters experiencing the allure and potential effects of using performance-enhancing drugs.
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Health Consequences:
- Reports indicate that the use of anabolic steroids produces increases in lean muscle mass, strength, and ability to train longer and harder, but long-term, high-dose effects of steroid use are largely unknown.
- Major side effects of anabolic steroid use include liver tumors, jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids), fluid retention, and high blood pressure; others are severe acne and trembling.
- In males, major side effects include shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, and baldness.
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Use of performance-enhancing drugs did not begin in the 1900s. A recent Washington Post article reports that in the 1800s pitcher James "Pud" Galvin used "Brown-Sequard" elixir which contained ingredients glycerin and ground-up animal testicles.
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* When portraying someone using steroids, remember that the effects of the drug typically are not immediate like most other drugs.
* If your production calls for an athlete to use steroids in any form, show athletes who are not in agreement with drug use.
*While steroid use can provide an enhanced physical appearance, it can simultaneously interrupt normal sex drive and sexual performance.
*Use among adult or professional athletes has not been well documented, although anecdotal evidence clearly supports the suggestion that anabolic steroids have enjoyed popularity among football players, weightlifters, swimmers, bodybuilders, and track and field competitors (both male and female).
* Where possible, avoid glamorizing usage and encourage reflecting the reality of performance-enhancing drug usage which can have negative consequences in areas of health and professional career.
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For more information about performance-enhancing drugs visit SAMHSA
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To contact First Draft® e-mail: ldeutch@eiconline.org
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