Analyzing the Ethics of Steroid Use in Professional Sports

According to cable network ESPN, the self-proclaimed worldwide leader in sports, "there should not be a controversy over anabolic steroid use in athletics - non-medical use of anabolic steroids is illegal and banned by most, if not all, major sports organizations" (1). Sometimes, a simple statement can express more than the sum of its actual words. In the case of steroids, this phenomenon applies to the word itself. ESPN defines steroids as "the synthetic derivatives of the naturally occurring male anabolic hormone testosterone" (1). The significant questions regarding steroid usage in professional sports come pre-packaged in two main sections: medical and ethical.

The idea of enhancing one's physique through steroids is not a new idea. In 1959, a doctor introduced weightlifter Bill March to a new piece of workout equipment, along with a small bag of experimental pills. Thinking it was just another type of vitamin, March did not think much taking the pills. (3) Some sixty years later, steroid use has run rampant throughout the sports world, no longer commandeered exclusively in weightlifting circles. Allegations continue to echo through all professional sports, with Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Football League (NFL) at the forefront.

With staggering results, steroid use can have a great effect in little time. Bill March, the guinea pig for the drug back in 1959, experienced this first-hand. "A four-sport athlete, he stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 156 pounds when he graduated from Dallastown (York County) High School in 1958" (3). A year later, March weighed in at staggering 198 pounds. "It works," March said flatly.