Steroids in sports have become something of a regular occurrence these days.

With the recent unveiling of the link between Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and the known source of performance-enhancing drugs, the Biogenesis clinic in Miami, and the controversy over former Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan’s possible use of steroids, these years are coming to be known as the Steroid Era.  People look forward to the next big athlete to get caught “doping.”

Some people see these enhancements as a new age in competition, where unnatural power and speed outweigh God-given talent and hard work.  PEDs are not just used to make a player stand out from the rest anymore; they are now used as levelers of a once untainted playing field.  Athletes who once worked hard to gain accolades in their respective sports now look to icons that cheated their way to the top.  They see their only road to fame is to fall into succession with these frauds.

Once-great heroes like Lance Armstrong and Manny Ramirez have fallen by the wayside because of the growing issue of steroids.  Armstrong is now banned from competitive cycling and Ramirez has been demoted to an excited Taiwanese baseball club.  Both casualties of the negative effects of synthetic enhancement, they are perfect examples of people who compromise who they are to become someone they shouldn’t be.

The use of anabolic steroids has no place in sports of any kind or at any level.  Many careers, records and accolades have been either tainted or completely destroyed by chemical abuse.  If this trend is to continue, it will surely mean the destruction of competition.  If an athlete works hard from an early age to become the best that he or she can be, that is an achievement in itself.  But, if that same athlete could be easily surpassed in half of that time by someone using illegal chemicals, where is the incentive for effort?  Achievements and records will mean nothing.  Children will look up to their idols and see an example of taking shortcuts on their road to success.

This is a problem that needs solving.  Even though steroids are illegal in professional sports, it is estimated that up to 50 percent of top-tier athletes are using steroids according to Ken Caminiti, former third basemen for the Houston Astros.  The only true solution is to have regular unwavering drug tests that cover all known enhancement substances. The penalty for failing a test would be total disbarment from professional sports.

This could possibly destroy sports for decades, causing a hard and lengthy reconstruction period.  But to deny this solution is to deny the integrity and sportsmanship of professional athletics.  It is now time to make a decision: shatter a few decades or shatter an entire era of dreams, miracles and memories.