On debate.org where you can vote 70% of the voters don’t think that steroids should be allowed. Deborah Sorenson, a former professional bodybuilder, said in a article titled A Former Female Steroid User Describes Drug Hell published on AthletesAgainstSteroids.org, “I was a hard, suspicious, neurotic woman while I was taking steroids. That just isn't me. I've seen marriages dissipate, families break up and financial security dissolve because of these drugs. I've seen men go on a cycle of steroids with the money they'd saved for their children's clothes, and I've watched innocent victims get thrown across a bar room for no reason by men who haven't the ability to control their aggression while using steroids. I've watched happy, energetic and positive guys go from Dr. Jeckyl to Mr. Hyde, and I've seen petite women turn into hulking no-neck bearded monsters with acne all over their backs and shoulders.” Paul Finkelman, PhD, President William Mckinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy submitted this in a debate titled, What baseball should do about drugs, “Steroids are obviously dangerous to the players.... Professional baseball players are adults and can make adult decisions. But, the issue of steroids is not that simple. If some players use steroids, others are forced to do the same, in order to compete; those who do not may lose their job.... Those who use them harm their bodies; those who don't use them face unfair competition....Thus we have an industry which condones, and silently encourages (through higher salaries) the use of something known to be harmful to their employees. In no other industry would we condone this or encourage it.” While nobody would be cheating for taking steroids, steroids shouldn’t be allowed.

If you allowed steroids, then there would be lots of health issues. In the book Gym Candy by Carl Deuker he shows how steroids can make you rage and get mad at very little things. He also shows the effects of steroids with other health issues. In the book the person taking steroids tries to kill himself. Daniel J. DeNoon of WebMD Health News says, “Some things that happen in long term things are you get acne, have an oily scalp and skin, get yellowing of the skin, become bald, have tendon rupture, have heart attacks, have an enlarged heart, develop significant risk of liver disease and liver cancer, have high levels of "bad" cholesterol, have mood swings, fly into rages, and suffer delusions.” That is one of the main reasons steroids shouldn’t be allowed.

Another reason is athletes are role models to kids. Parents are always telling kids not to do drugs, but if their role model is they have a better chance of taking them. Jay R. Puffman , PhD, Chair and Professor at the Department of Health and Exercise Science of The College of New Jersey, did a little survey and asked some kids if they think role models is a reason kids take steroids and about 20% of them said yes, but when these kids asked friends that take steroids why about 50% of them said because their role model does.

Another reason is just for the game itself. The fans want to see the skills of the players not see who take the better steroids. If someone was really good at a sport and worked hard, but didn’t want to take steroids they wouldn’t be able to play because people taking steroids would be so much better. People might take to many at one time to be good enough and die of over dosage. If you made them legal people would overdose and try making themselves good enough.

It’s also teaching kids a bad message. It’s teaching them to take the easy way out of things. By taking steroids to become a professional athlete you don’t have to work as hard as you do without taking steroids to become a professional athlete. Kids might do that in things such as schoolwork and many other things.

You might say if you made them legal that there wouldn’t be any unfair advantage, but their still would be an unfair advantage. People that are poor and wouldn’t be able to afford steroids would be at an unfair advantage. Those people that are poor wouldn’t be able to get steroids and it wouldn’t be fair to them if they couldn’t get them, but the rich people could. It would also be unfair to people in other countries that maybe wouldn’t have steroids or the kinds that people can have in the United States.

In conclusion, while nobody would be cheating for taking steroids, steroids shouldn’t be allowed. If you allowed steroids Thomas H. Murray, President of the Hastings Center "Sports Enhancement," says, “The drug race in sports has the potential to create a slow-motion public health catastrophe. Finally, we may lose whatever is most graceful, beautiful, and admirable about sport..."