The topic of performance enhancing drugs, there may not be a topic more paralyzing to many or a topic so largely misunderstood. Day after day we hear of scandals in professional sports revolving around performance enhancing drugs and day after day many people are left surprised. Further, the understanding of what constitutes a performance enhancing drug is lost on most; as is the understanding of why anyone would ever use them; we will clear all of it up here.
It is a very common mistake to make; many believe when youre talking about performance enhancing drugs youre talking about anabolic steroids. Yes, anabolic steroids fall into this category, this much is true but there are other drugs that do as well and of all the performance enhancing drugs not all are anabolic steroids. If we were to give an apt sampling listing the categories of these drugs it would be as follows:
While each category of performance enhancing drugs serves its own unique purpose there is some overlap and one thing they all have in common; if you use them your performance will be far superior than without, its that simple.
In most cases every drug under each category listed above can be obtained legally with a prescription, however most are illegal to use without a prescription and banned from use by most sporting associations. Depending on the organization in-which you compete the level of enforcement of the rule will vary but an interesting note, the majority of people who use performance enhancing drugs do not partake in any organized sporting competition but do so only to look better than they would otherwise. Unfortunately for these individuals, most of them do so by breaking the law but this legal factor does not seem to be slowing down the use by any means.
In sporting competition the answer is simple and easy; it helps them perform at a higher level, the better they perform the higher the reward, the higher the reward the higher the success. Call it cheating call in immoral, call it what you will, as long as performance is deemed the ultimate performance enhancing drugs will always be part of the game.
The other group who commonly use, as noted above does not compete, they are not a member of any team. These people simply desire to look and feel better and improve not only their overall health but overall wellbeing. Many who use performance enhancing drugs believe the benefits of such drugs when used responsibly greatly outweigh any risk that may be associated. There is a lot of evidence to give their case a strong position but unfortunately for these individuals in most cases the law will outweigh any evidence no matter how strong.
