Page Number
151
Abstract
The government's response to steroid abuse has been simultaneously hyperbolic and inadequate. The legislative and executive branches have attempted to address the problem of abuse of performance-enhancing drugs by adolescents by focusing their venom primarily on A) steroids, and B) baseball players. I argue that this artificially narrows the larger public health conversation that we should be having as a society if, in fact, we determine that adolescent steroid abuse is a problem worth addressing.
There are several flaws in the government's line of thinking in addressing this issue: 1) it has overstated the problem of adolescent steroid abuse, 2) it has overstated the dangers of steroid abuse, 3) it has overstated the link between athletes' behavior and the choices made by adolescents, 4) it has understated other causes of this behavior by teen-agers, and 5) the government has actually set the stage for other potentially dangerous choices involving performance-enhancing substances by deregulating their path to the marketplace.
While other scholarship has focused on Congress' statutory response to steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, I focused more on the rhetoric used by both the legislative and executive branches when castigating professional athletes (mainly baseball players) for their indiscretions. Scientific research has pointed to uncovered a variety of driving factors behind the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances among non-professional athletes, but, to my knowledge, no one has linked this to the deficiencies in the government's rhetoric, or used this data to advance a public policy argument urging a new, broader approach to addressing the issue that isn't so dependant on making an example out of professional athletes.
"I think it is critical to convey to the youth who desire to excel in sports that steroids are not the answer, that steroids are not necessary in order to excel in any athletic event and that success is achieved through hard work, dedication and perseverance." - Curt Schilling, former Major League Baseball pitcher
Recommended Citation
Williams, Connor
(2009)
"Should the Government Flex Its Muscles and Regulate Steroids in Baseball - Weakness in the Public Health Argument,"
Denver Sports & Entertainment Law Journal: Vol. 6:
Iss.
1, Article 7.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/selj/vol6/iss1/7