This paper will discuss the role of drugs in college athletics today. Among the items to be discussed are the trends in drug abuse among college athletes today, what drugs are most popular among college athletes, the effects that various drugs have upon athletes, the reaction of the NCAA to collegiate drug abuse, and the reasons that athletes submit to drug abuse.
Athletes subject themselves to drug abuse in the expectation that it will improve their athletic performance. Many top athletes feel that reaching the top is not possible without the use of drugs, and many athletes would do almost anything short of killing themselves to attain improved performance. Though anabolic steroids have received much of the media attention, athletes abuse other drugs (Donohoe & Johnson 1-17).
Doping, the word often applied to drug use, comes from the Dutch word dop. Dop is a type of brandy made from grape skins in South Africa, though the term dop has expanded to cover other stimulating beverages. Around the turn of the century, the term doping came into being in connection with race horses and greyhounds, who were doped to reduce their chances of winning (and benefit gamblers). A major problem in modern athletics is that those supplying the drugs or advocating their use, as well as the athletes themselves, often do not understand the drugs. This lack of understanding leads athletes to use dosages greater than used in medical practices, and results in adverse physical and psychological side effects. Historically, athletes are known for taking substances to improve performance. The ancient Greek sprinter Charmis is said to have won the 200 meter sprint in the 668 BC Olympic Games using a special dried fig diet. Ancient Egyptian athletes used a concoction of Abyssinian ass rear hooves ground up and boiled in oil which was flavored with rose petals and rose hips. Even the Roman gladiators and medieval knights used stimulants after bein...