Quote:
Originally posted by CET
Steroids being legal would be cheaper. Right now, more expensive doesn't mean more effective, it means less easily detectable.
Steroids certainly can be compared to alcohol and tobacco. Tobacco offers no good effects, only dangerous and deadly effects. Alcohol does little more then relax an individual, and red wine on occasion might make your arteries a little cleaner. Outside of that, alcohol offers no positive effects, only dangerous and deadly ones. More alcohol or tobacco related deaths occur in one day then with steroids in a year, or even an entire decade.
I'm sure there will be a couple of nut jobs that will think "more is always better", but that's the case anyway. The only difference is the stigma we'll attach to using gear and maybe athletes can get good supervision, or even someone getting a bad reaction will be able to fearlessly get the treatment they need. How many people die from illegal drugs every year simply because their friends are too scared to take them to the emergency room?
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Steroids being legal would mean more research into performance-enhancing steroids, and thus you'll still get a new top level of the latest and greatest steroids. Obviously, pharmaceutical concerns will ask craploads of money for their best stuff.
Steroids can NOT be compared to alcohol, tobacco, weed, coke, etc, because the goal behind using them is completely different - and because of that, the effects of prohibition are completely different.
Steroid use for professional athletes easily lends itself to a rational cost/benefit alalysis. It's a gains versus risks thing, and if risks are big (prohibition, testing, etc) less people will use them.
Substances used for pleasure, on the other hand, fall outside of simple cost/benefits analysis, because "pleasure" is too vague a concept.