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With the extreme records that have recently been broken in several professional sports, it shouldn’t be too surprising to learn that drug use among professional athletes is becoming a huge problem. The types of drugs that are most often used are those that provide extra energy or somehow enhance the athlete’s performance. Steroid use is actually becoming a epidemic in the realm of professional American sports, but other drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and caffeine have all been used as performance-enhancers by professional athletes.
Athletes such as boxers, wrestlers and mixed-martial arts fighters are grouped together by weight class. This means that before large matches, the fighters are weighed publically to make sure that they still fit within their weight class. This has undoubtedly led to a number of athletes in these sports using drugs that dehydrate or control appetite. Dropping several pounds quickly over a short period of time can be stressful on the healthiest body, and using diuretics is one of the surest ways.
One other type of drugs that is often abused by those who play professional sports is pain killers. Oxycodoneand Hydrocodone can help players mask the pain experienced by sore muscles and even severe injuries, allowing them to keep on playing even when it is not advisable. Until we can send a message that any type of drug abuse by athletes is unacceptable, this will likely always be a problem. Unfortunately, Americanshave yet to discover a way to do that.
