Professional athletes are role models for many young children & adolescents. If for example a young child hears about an athlete using drugs, he might think that using drugs is all right for him as well. Similarly, if the athlete is not severely punished then the child will think he can get off easy too. However if a child sees that the sport wants to remediate any and all situations involving professional athletes taking drugs, he will be helped to understand that taking drugs is socially unacceptable.
If all our sports stars start to use drugs then what type of example would this set or youth? High schools would start to use drugs & if everyone started using drugs as our 2nd speaker said where would all the talent and skill go? Already many young adults are introduced to drugs such as steroids by their youth. An adolescent child may use these drugs to enhance this performance in a sport. Most young adults have heard of steroids, know someone using steroids or have used steroids themselves by the time they start doing high school sport.
And even if PED were only legalized for adults, the definition for this varies from country to country, e. in France you are considered an adult by the time you are 13-15 and NZ it’s when your 18-20. Teenage athletes train alongside adult athletes and share the same coaches, so many would succumb to the temptation to use these drugs if these were widely available. Not only are such young adults unable to make fully informed choice about drug taking it also harms their body worse than adult users e. g. Steroids in younger people can stop hormones from being released and stunts growth.
In older people it can cause prostate cancer. Also the use of these drugs would send a positive message about “drug culture’ and other drugs. If PED became legal in the sporting society, then drug addicts would obviously find some way to get their hands on those drugs. Let’s use an example; a drug dealer could call himself an “upcoming athlete” & order some steroids under his name, or a regular drug addict could call himself a player for their High schools “International cricket team” and get access to drugs as well.
Also L+G if drugs became legal in one part of our culture then other people will start to think as this new legalization as being double standard. At the moment there are drug buses coming to school & explaining about the harm that drugs do and advise children not to do them. What if all of a sudden they” children drugs are illegal and harmful, I’d advise anyone not to do them. Unless you are a performer then it’s okay”. What type of e. g. does this set people? Again this comes down to influencing children.
Also if sportsmen and performers are allowed to do drugs then the question arises, why not allow other professional physically laboring jobs such as construction workers to also use steroids to enhance their ability? Why not make those PED legal in regular communities as well? Questions like these will start to frustrate people causing protests and boycotts against PED anyway. If normal people can’t use drugs for everyday jobs then why should sportsmen and performers be any different? This L+G is called double standard. By allowing PED we are setting double standards here.
There would also be horrible consequences for PED. Drug taking would become common and too much people would end up in hospitals. More deaths, more violence and more health disorders. All this just because one part of society decided they needed drugs to perform for them not their skill. L+G isn’t it ironic that people play sport to be fit & healthy, yet at the same time they use PED making their fitness & health poor. By enforcing that all PED be banned we create a positive effect on society & the future of the living world. We have faith that our athletes are competing naturally & performing at their personal best.
