Over the past decade, Marijuana has become extremely popular in the media. This has even led to the legalization of it for medical purposes in multiple states with a few even legalizing it for recreational use as well. Even with this legalization, marijuana or commonly referred to as weed is widely banned across the board in the major Professional Athletic leads. Still with this ban, we often see cases of professional and even collegiate athletes receiving penalties for failed drug test, but what is the real reason that this substance is banned from the sport world. It is not known to give any type of advantage to help the athlete perform better, but it is known to help in the recovery process of injuries.

The WADA’s decision to include cannabis as a performance-enhancing drug was largely due to how it affected the mental state of the user, not the physical state. They’ve said, besides increasing muscle relaxation and pain reduction for post-workout recovery, cannabis can also “decrease anxiety and tension, resulting in better sport performance under pressure.” The WADA has also stated that cannabis can increase “focus and risk-taking behaviours, allowing athletes to forget bad falls or previous trauma in sport, and push themselves past those fears in competition.”

A number of former Pro Athletes have gone on record saying that they smoked marijuana at some point in their career. Former Dallas Cowboy Shaun Smith stated that he smoked 2 blunts before every game and he played 9 seasons in the NFL. Former NBA stars such as Kenyon Martin and Matt Barnes have also come out as using the substance over the course of their careers.

Martellus Bennett, who retired from the NFL in March after 10 seasons, estimated earlier this month that “about 89 percent” of the league smokes marijuana. Many athletes have gone on record saying that they would rather use marijuana to ease the pain opposed to the pills that they are given and are ruining their bodies. So why is it still banned? Commissioner Adam Silver of the NBA states that it is worth looking into and obtaining more knowledge on the matter as the sport continues to progress. My thoughts, it should not be considered a PED because it does not provide any unnatural ability that the athlete did not already possess. It should be simply considered as a pain/stress reliever no different from smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol.

Ryan Upshaw

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2771410-the-worlds-best-athletes-smoke-weed-heres-proof-what-now

It is no secret that steroids can have a significant impact on the appearance and production of athletes. However, few have a legitimate understanding of how exactly these substances are able to produce these effects.

The most commonly known term in the world of steroids is that of anabolic steroids. Essentially anabolic steroids work by tricking your body into thinking they are testosterone. Testosterone is the primary hormone associated with muscle growth and is, in fact, an anabolic steroid itself.  Simply put, anabolic steroids are a synthetic version of testosterone. While they operate with several other chemicals and steroids in the body, anabolic steroids play the most important role when it comes to physiological muscle growth.

While these chemicals can drastically increase muscle growth, they first need to be broken down into small enough molecules to be absorbed into cells. There, the steroid molecules bind to structures called androgen receptors. This is where anabolic steroids really resemble testosterone seeing as testosterone is typically the only chemical in the body that can do this.

Steroids truly result in greater muscle mass due to their ability to alter ones metabolism. Essentially during a cycle of steroids will trick your androgen receptors into producing more muscle-building proteins than normal while simultaneously producing less proteins that break down muscle. On the opposite spectrum there are also androgen receptors that can decrease muscle growth. While some steroids can work to increase muscle growth, others work to counteract the effects of these decreasing androgen receptors which then can ultimately work to decrease recovery time in between workouts.

While steroids can work to enhance muscle growth and lower fatigue, they also have a very compounding effect. This muscle growth results in greater strength, agility which ultimately results in even further growth in muscle during workouts.

• Jacob Groat

Have we reached a time period where it is assumed that a person who is dominating within their respective sport is using some sort of extra means to achieve this success. One tennis star might say so. Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players and female athletes that we have ever seen has recently made claims of discrimination. Serena has made claims that out of all of the tennis players, she has been randomly drug tested the most. Can this claim be attributed to her dominance over the sport, I would say so.

“And it’s that time of the day to get ‘randomly’ drug tested and only test Serena. Out of all the players it’s been proven I’m the one getting tested the most. Discrimination? I think so. At least I’ll be keeping the sport clean,” Williams tweeted. “But I’m ready to do whatever it takes to have a clean sport so bring it on. I’m excited,” she added. As she stated on her twitter, she really questioned the amount of test she is being given, but in efforts to stay positive hopes to see a clean sport.

Williams, 36, also complained about drug testing before Wimbledon, imploring tennis officials to test everyone equally. The comments come just weeks after Deadspin reported that Williams was the most-tested tennis player. According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s public athlete testing history database (last updated on July 20th), Williams has been tested five times in 2018. She was tested three times in 2017 and six times in 2016. Williams has also gone on record saying that she does not mind being tested, only wishes that everyone be tested equally.

Williams began her professional career between the age of 15-17. Through the years, she has won multiple major titles both with her sister Venus, and on her own. Now at age 36, Williams has won 23 Grand Slam single titles and 14 Grand Slam doubles titles. In addition, Williams has won 4 Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles.

Ryan Upshaw

https://www.si.com/tennis/2018/07/25/serena-williams-drug-testing-discrimination

In our current sport culture it is hard to imagine an athlete who’s career is more strongly defined by the use of performance enhancing drugs than that of Lance Armstrong. When you consider Armstrong’s story as a whole it is one that was designed to capture the attention of the sport world: and it did just that. From his battle with cancer, to being the top athlete in a sport known for its PED use, Lance Armstrong’s career before knowledge of his drug use was one designed to arguable make him the worlds greatest athlete. However, after finally admitting to using steroids in 2013, Armstrong quickly became sports’ biggest villain.

Armstrong faced a mountain of hurdles from the beginning of his career when it came to making a name for himself in the world of cycling. Americans were never truly considered to be successful cycling athletes. Although Armstrong won 7 Tour de France events in a row, only one American (Greg LeMond) is still considered an official winner of the event. In 2017 there were only 3 Americans in the entire field of nearly 200. So to have a young American Armstrong seemingly take over the sport, many traditional cycling fans had concerns and speculations. For Americans though, he was a hero.

Lance Armstrong’s celebrity only grew larger when returning to the sport after beating his battle with cancer. Everything was adding up to produce the greatest comeback story in sport history for arguably the worlds most dominate athlete. After years and years of dominance though, Armstrong’s fame was quickly shattered when he finally admitted that steroids and blood doping had played a role in every one of his 7 Tour de France wins. What made his confession so shocking was that he had strongly and publicly denied for years that he had any involvement with steroid use. He even went as far as to refer to himself as the cleanest and most tested athlete in the world. While he may have been regularly tested for drug use, it was also admitted that he had falsified and covered up all of these tests: sometimes with the help of physicians.

Lance Armstrong’s ultimate confession after years of stern denial came as a shock for many. He had been accused of drug use his an entire career and had somehow managed to come out “clean” every time. He had used his success and story as a marketing tool for his cancer charity and had profited millions off of his ability to hid his steroid use. Many athletes caught using steroids have ultimately been forgiven for their use and eventually it is forgotten that it was even a part of their career. However, due to the lengths and timeline that Armstrong went through to cover up his use, his career has ultimately been defined solely by his use of steroids. While steroids have been a catalyst for countless sport stories, perhaps none have resulted in an athlete being hated more than Lance Armstrong. The same substances that resulted in his rock star status would ultimately turn him into sports’ biggest fraud.

• Jacob Groat

Over the past 2 years, suspicions of PED use have risen as the number of home runs are occurring at the highest rate in baseball history. This leaves the question of whether or not players are in fact using PEDs, or have we just reached an era of athletic eliteness and we are witnessing history happen before our very eyes. As it stands right now, it is both. There are a group of phenomenal players that are raking in unrealistic numbers right now, but there is still a large group of players who use them to this day.

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Starling Marte did not mount a word of defense when MLB hit him last month with an 80-game suspension for flunking a spring training drug test for the use of Nandrolone, an injectable anabolic steroid that has been around since the 1960s and is easy to detect. Unfortunately right now, players know that if they are caught then they can take their penalty and then return once their time has been served. This current method is not serving as a deterrence to get these athletes to quit.

A former player stated “If you use the nuclear option and make it a lifetime ban for getting caught, you will only have to use it once and then guys will be incentivized to stay clean. As it stands, it still seems to be worth the risk.” The message that the MLB is sending is clear, they know that this is a major issue surrounding the sport, but are they willing to do whatever it takes to rid this issue for good?

Ryan Upshaw

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/05/16/ped-suspensions-home-run-rate

Gay was one of the biggest stars in sprinting when he tested positive for a banned substance in 2013. Gay had previously won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics and posted the second-fastest time in the 100-meter dash with a 9.69 second run in 2009 at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix. After his positive test, though, Gay was banned from the sport for a year and stripped of his silver Olympic medal. Gay’s time of 9.69 makes him the second fastest athlete and the fastest American to ever run this event. He went on to compete in future events, but it is quite difficult for fans and other athletes to recognize any future accomplishments after his name had been tested with a positive test.

Ryan Upshaw

From it seemingly complete takeover of the cyclist world to its crushing of some of baseballs biggest names, steroids have been a catalyst for countless sport scandals that have shocked the world. However, few of these headlines could compete with the storyline associated with Russia’s government sponsored doping scandal.

Following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games it was discovered that Russia had gone to extreme measures to infiltrate the games with an army of steroid users. Perhaps most shocking was the amount of people and organizations that were involved in this process. Russias own Ministry of Sport was responsible for directing this processes and oversaw the manipulation of athlete’s analytical results or sample swapping. Participation and assistance also included Russian security service, FSB, the Centre of Sports Preparation, and both Moscow and Sochi Laboratories. While it is still denied to this day, it is believed that this state sponsored doping was endorsed by Putin himself.

It would eventually be discovered that the nation wide doping went back to 2011 and between that time and 2015 there were more than a thousand Russian athletes benefited from the use of steroids. Extreme measures were taken to secretly swap testing sample at olympic competitions which involved processes as crazy as creating secret holes in laboratory walls where samples could be snuck in the middle of the night.

To make the storyline of the Russian doping scandal even more compelling, there have been multiple suspicious deaths related to these events that occurred soon after this information was discovered. Included in this was the executive director of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA), Nikita Kamaev, and the chairman of the RUSADA, Vyacheslav Sinev.

Whether or not details of this scandal have been used to create conspiracy theories, the situation itself has not been any less shocking to the sport world. Russia has been accused of single handedly attacking the integrity of sport. All in all Russia got off relatively easy with a ban of 47 athletes and coaches from the 2018 winter olympics with 169 Russian athletes still competing as independents.

• Jacob Groat

It is no secret that adolescence is often a time of experimentation and mischief. In many cases this means trials with drug and alcohol use. Back in 2004 it was gathered that 3.4% of 12th graders had used steroids at some point in their lifetime (Darkes, 2005). This number was slightly down from 4% in 2002 (Global Sports Development, 2013). Steroid use was also seen in younger teens with 2.5% of 8^th graders and 2.5% of 10^th graders also admitting to using performance enhancing drugs at some point (Global Sports Development, 2013).

Relative to other drug use in this same age rang the use of steroids may seem low. In terms of alcohol use, 76.8% of adolescence within this same range admitted to consuming alcohol at some point while 70.6% reported doing it in the past year and 48% in the previous 30 days (Darkes, 2005). Rates for drugs like marijuana and cocaine were reported to fall within the ranges of steroid and alcohol use with a steady incline in use between 8th graders and 12th graders (Darkes 2005).

While steroid use is drastically lower than that of alcohol and other drugs, the effects produced by these drugs are unpredictable and life threatening. Also concerning when considering steroid use among adolescents is that since steroids are often harder to find for kids than alcohol and other drugs, many users are not certain of exactly what they are consuming. This can add even greater risk to steroid use among young users.

Although the numbers are low, it is clear that steroids are one of the many concerning substances used among our younger generations.

• Jacob Groat

Its no secret that there is a strong lure to young athletes which draws them to the use of steroids. Performance enhancing drugs have been a highly debated topic for decades now. Anytime professional sports is faced with a new drug use scandal it is brought back to the forefront of sport discussion. The question though, is what happens when young athletes see how well these professionals perform when using.

Especially during the 1990’s and early 2000’s baseball was consumed with the use of steroids. While the MLB cracked down on this drug use it is hard to argue that there was a more exciting time to watch professional baseball. Players were bigger and stronger than ever and were hitting home runs at an alarming rate. When young athletes began to realize that they too could see increased performance with steroid use it was not long before users were getting younger and younger.

The sad truth however, was that these kids were not seeing the exact effects they saw within the stadiums and televisions. Instead, due to inconsistent use and high transitions hormone patterns there was a drastic increase in mood swings and depressions. As a result, suicide rates with young steroid users are much more common. Suicide already acts as the third most common source of death for adolescence between the ages of 15-24. Adding the use of performance enhancing drugs which can alter moods and depressions only increases the odds of another unfortunate loss.

In an effort to gain a competitive edge, young athletes will turn to steroid use to perform like their favorite athletes. The serious risk of negative effects due to steroid use can far out way any benefits these drugs could produce.

• Jacob Groat

The World Economic Forum wrote an article discussing the economic impact of doping in sports.  While someone may think it is only the athlete that suffers when they choose to cheat, that isn’t entirely true.  The article discusses the damage that sporting clubs face when an athlete is caught doping.

One example given was the Tour de France live broadcasters that lost sponsors because of what had happened with many cyclists getting caught doping (including the US Athlete Lance Armstrong).   Lost revenue is a very real situation for a team or sporting venue to face when fans no longer want to come watch their favorite athlete perform (if they are not banned permanently from the field).

The team went on to review the teams who have had someone caught doping.  They found on an average that the cost of a steroid find was about 1.1% in lost revenue to an organization.  While that may not seem like a big deal, when you put it at a dollar loss of $451,000 a year, that is a staggering amount.  Lost revenue of almost half a million dollars is worth looking in to.  It could cost a teetering organization to finally tip and fail.

Along with the cost of the athlete loss, the loss of sponsors and fans is an ongoing cost to an organization.  The cycling industry for years had the face of Lance Armstrong on every ad, event and race they could put him on.  His numerous successes in the Tour de France were heavily televised and shown.  All of that came to a crashing halt when he along with several bikers were found to be using steroids to enhance their endurance.

Although many have said they were using medications for ailments or they didn’t even know that they were using an illegal substance etc, the reason behind doesn’t matter to the organization doing the testing.  A fail is a fail regardless of reason and the fans and sponsors all lost interest quickly.  It doesn’t appear that the cycling industry ever really recovered back to the interest level it was at before the scandal.

Eric Walter

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/07/whats-the-economic-impact-of-doping-in-sport/