1. Randy Page Jeffery Williams Engl 1312

2. Steroid abuse amongst professional athletes in today’s is a very well known phenomenon. In the year 2005 an estimated 660,000 students have admitted to using steroids. These student athletes look up to professionals and are having bad example put into their very influential minds.

3.  In this country we need to place more strict rules and regulations on steroid abuse in professional sports.  As it stands now our punishment for an offense is insufficient and thus more athletes feel that they can get away with it.

4.  The abuse of steroids have many harmful effects to the body some of which are long term and even irreversible.

5.  If we were able to increase the force of the punishment for the use of an illegal substance as we do with other narcotics, we could potentially send a message to athletes that it isn’t worth the risk and prevent a lot of these cases from taking place and also save them from themselves in the long run.  Most importantly with the use of steroids being a rare phenomenon it would also cut back on the influence of our youth to also abuse the drug to copy what they see their sports heroes do.

6. Parrott, A.C. Choi, P.Y. Davies, M. (1994) Steroid Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.steroidabuse.com/steroid- statistics.html http://www.steroidabuse.com/steroid- statistics.html Sharp Labs Inc. (2005) Poster illustrating the harmful effects of steroids on the body. Retrieved from http://www.muscleenhancers.com/steroids/ http://www.muscleenhancers.com/steroids/