When a group of people get in trouble, do you punish just one person or the whole group? That is the problem with drug testing athletes; although the use of drugs can influence competitive sports, other important people such as singers, public figures, and influencers all do not have to take mandatory drug tests while they are regularly interacting with the public. If all public figures aren’t drug tested, then this can be a problem with public safety. I believe that athletes should still be tested for drugs because drugs can interfere with their performance during their games and their health. Everyone assumes that just athletes are drug users and need to stop looking at them and need to start looking at everyone else, too. For example, the famous rapper “Juice WRLD” recently died from a seizure in an airport in Chicago, IL. Police found 70lbs of marijuana, along with 6 bottles of prescribed codeine on his private plane. The police knew that he had Percocets on him, so many believe that he took all of them to avoid being caught, which led to his death. If drug tests were enforced for everyone, then maybe Juice WRLD would still be alive, along with a lot of the other people in the world who have died from an overdose or a drug-related death. Many athletes have to take drug tests and these tests are not mandatory for other public figures or professionals who routinely interact with the public, so it is clear that athletes shouldn’t be the only ones who are drug tested.
Since the end of the twentieth-century athletes have been drug tested and some were banned from competing in competitive sports because of illegal drug use. A lot of athletes use steroids that aren’t allowed in most if not all sports. But what about other drugs? What would happen if you smoked weed or other substances that are legal in some states? If you own or get caught using illegal drugs, then you can get in a lot of trouble with the law if they’re brought into it and you’ll get suspended from playing in national leagues or in high school. Major League Baseball, National Football League, and the National Hockey League have all gotten a lot more strict about illegal drug use. By doing this they are hoping that it’ll prevent a lot of players from using drugs. Drug use has been a big problem in sports for over a thousand years. In the first Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, competitors would eat a lot of meat, and that would make them stronger and their performance better. The creatine and the testosterone from the meat is what caused the athletes to perform better. Scientists didn’t know until the 1800’s that cocaine, strychnine, and nitroglycerin affected how athletes played. Athletes started using anabolic steroids in the 1930s and is the most commonly used drug that athletes use today (“Drugs and Athletes”).
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Next, some believe that athletes shouldn’t be drug tested because they have the same rights as everyone else (Jacobs, Newton). While it is true that athletes have the same rights as everyone else, that would be unfair to competitive sports because but that would also be unfair for everyone else. If drug tests aren’t enforced for everyone, more and more people are likely to use drugs, leading to an unhealthy future for humans. Some also believe that drug testing interferes with our right from unlawful searches and our right of being innocent until proven guilty. In 1991, a 12-year old boy named Jimmy Acton wanted to play middle school football. The school sent home a drug test permission form, but Jimmy’s parents refused to sign it. They told the principal that they wouldn’t sign the form because there was no evidence saying that Jimmy had been using drugs or alcohol. Doing this, the school suspended him from playing any sports for that season. His parents then filed a lawsuit against them saying that drug testing interferes with our fourth amendment right (Jacobs). The point of drug testing is not to invade the privacy of people but to make sure that everyone is being safe and fair.
Finally, how drugs can end your professional career in sports or your life. The use of illegal drugs not only can cause long term effects on your body, but it can resort in death. The famous athlete Steve Howe, a great pitcher for the LA Dodgers, winner of the Rookie of the Year award in 1980, lost his life in 2006 due to drug abuse. His career slowly started going downhill, however, from the abuse of alcohol and cocaine. Through-out the next ten years, he was in and out of rehab facilities, when finally he was on meth which resulted in a car crash and ultimately his death. One choice can ruin your whole life, and maybe someone else’s. Another example of this is Len Bias, a basketball player for the University of Maryland. He won the ACC player of the year award and he was second in the NBA draft. Only two days later, he overdosed on cocaine and died at twenty-two. Someone so young with his whole life ahead of him ended his life over one bad choice. Situations like these is one of the main reasons that we need drug tests in order to play sports (“Drugs and Athletes”).
In conclusion, I believe that athletes should be tested for drugs. As you can see, drugs are very dangerous and can result in death if abused as many do after they try it and get addicted. If drug tests were not enforced, competitive sports games would be unfair and unsafe for players. Studies have shown that half a million eighth, ninth, and tenth graders are now using illegal drugs and a growing number of twelfth graders do not believe that steroids are dangerous. Steroids are, however, dangerous because although scientists do know some short-term effects from steroids, they do not know long term effects which is scarier in my opinion. Another set of studies shows that half of the percent of the adult population has tried anabolic steroids. So many people have used these drugs and nobody knows but God himself the long term effects. This evidence shows that athletes should be tested for drugs and so should everyone else.
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