I have two pals who have taken steroids in the past. One of them bought a 12 week cycle worth of dianabol and responded amazingly while using it. He only worked out to look good. The other used steroids (he did not specify to me what kind) while playing football in high school and he was one hell of a monster. They both received gain muscle mass, and my pal who played football received moderate acne. Neither of them suffered from gynecomastia, hair growth, aggression spikes, high cholesterol, and only one of them received moderate acne.
I do think that the use of performance enhancing drugs should be tolerated in sports--professional/Major league that is. Performance enhancers are so rampant at the professional level of competition that it shouldn't even be considered cheating Steroids in specific have been blown way out of perspective in the media. The media and the government have tried as hard as possible to brainwash people and demonize steroids to no end. It's truly ridiculous to me.
You can find performance enhancers in every sport and every event at the professional level of competition. Hell, thousands of American athletes fail their drug tests every year that the Olympics are held, but the scandals are covered up by the World Anti-doping Agency, simply because the most revenue for the Olympics comes from America.
A lot of people think that steroids are an easy way-out of tough work. The truth is, people who take steroids train much harder than people who don't take steroids. Regardless of what people think of Barry Bonds, no one can just take a bottle of testosterone, put on Barry's uniform and hit 700 home runs. Barry needs to go out and train and practice to hit 700 home runs. Nor can someone just take a dose of phenylpropanolamine and suddenly become a world record sprinter.
The most naive object anyone could believe is that just because an athlete doesn't fail a drug test, he/she isn't using a performance enhancer. There is still no way to test for urethra potency. There is still no way to test for human growth hormone. And there is still no very effective way to test for testosterone.
People all over insist that use of steroids and other performance enhancers is cheating, because they put the user ahead. But, whether steroid use is considered cheating, why isn't it considered cheating for:
to remove all of their bodily hair?
distance runners/cyclists to sleep in altitude chambers?
to have Lasik eye surgery?
stars to use injectable Viagra?
to use beta blockers?
to use Adderall?
pilots to use amphetamines?
to even workout in the first place?
Simple: It's all part of the competition. These are all advantages and nothing more. So, what makes anabolic steroids any different?
I know someone who took growth hormone, but it wasn't for sports; he was malnourished as a child and for some reason his adoptive parents gave him growth hormones. It didnt really work though... I think sportwise, people can say oh these matters should be less lax and we need to make sure atheletes dont use them But I believe it wil always be there. And atheletes will receive caught for their usage and deny it for years (ahem Mark Mcguire), or they will not, and more power to them.