In Recent Years, There Has Been A Rise In The Use Of Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

Sample essay

Sports have become a multi-billion dollar business. Successful sportspersons are earning huge amounts of money and enjoying fan following throughout the world. Needless to say, some athletes are resorting to unfair means to increase their performance. They take performance enhancing drugs.

When some athletes take drugs to boost their performance, they have an unfair advantage over others who are playing by the rules. This is quite demoralizing for honest and skilled players. They deserve to win and yet they lose to someone who is acting dishonestly. Cases of doping are particular rampant among international sportspersons who compete in prestigious events like Olympics or World Cup. Very often, the culprits are not caught and this also acts as an inspiration for other athletes to use drugs.  

Doping has negative consequences for both the athletes who do it and those who do not do it. Of course, those who do not take the drugs are likely to lose. That is the main consequence for them. Years of training and hard work fail to come to fruition when the competitor is on performance boosting drugs. Doping is also bad for athletes who do it. They have considerably higher chances of suffering from cardiac arrest. In fact, athletes who regularly consume performance enhancing drugs are more likely to die young from various health complications arising out of the consumption of these substances.

Testing is the most effective way to discourage the consumption of performance enhancing drugs. Athletes should be randomly tested before and after each game. Frequent testing increases the risk of getting caught and thus will act as a deterrent. Those who are caught should be banned for life. If there are stringent punishments, athletes who are serious about their career will automatically say no to drugs.

To conclude, while performance enhancing drugs may boost performance in the short term, these substances increase the risk of cardiac arrest in athletes who consume them. At the same time, they cause honest and deserving players to lose to dishonest players. Regular screening is the most effective way to discourage doping.

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