Thousands of years ago, the ancient Incas of Peru chewed coca leaves because they made it possible for them to work in the high mountains of the land for longer periods of time. In the 1880's Bolivian soldiers were given the drug to help them gain endurance and overcome fatigue. One hundred years later as many as 90 percent of the natives of the Andes Mountains in Peru regularly chewed coca leaves. It wasn't until the early years of the 20th century that cocaine increased in popularity among athletes ("Coca"). Cocaine is a naturally occurring alkaloid, extracted from the leaves of the coca plant.

It is an excellent local anesthetic and a widely abused illicit drug. Coc

There are three main ways to ingest cocaine: snorting, injection, and smoking. Snorting is the most popular. The user cuts the cocaine into lines and snorts it through one or both nostrils using a straw or a rolled up piece of paper. Others inject it directly into the blood stream. Crack is another type of cocaine. It is a hardened, very addictive form that may be smoked directly. Cocaine is very expensive. A single dose may be as little as a quarter of a gram, but it can easily cost $25 on the street. There are no currently approved uses for marijuana in the Unites States. However, many doctors obtain THC from the federal government under special arrangements in order to prescribe it for cancer patients. THC is effective in reducing the nausea that cancer patients suffer from. Marijuana may stimulate appetite. Marijuana may be smoked or taken by mouth. The same dose of THC is about three times as effective when smoked as when ingested. Marijuana is smoked in the form of !

body. Most of all, steroids are used by athletes to build muscle mass. They also help muscles to recuperate more quickly from exhaustion or injury. These enable users to train more frequently

ior think about his own life and how it could have been he just as easily. Junior was arrested April 2, 1982 after a raid on his apartment. He pleaded guilty of possessing cocaine and served three years probation and a four game NFL suspension, underwent drug rehabilitation, and began counseling youth groups about the dangers of cocaine ( Gordon 102). Charles White, a Heisman trophy winner, was tripped out of his mind on August 21, 1987 at 12:10 p.m. in Brea , California. The Los Angeles Rams were to flying to San Diego that afternoon, but White was going to miss the flight. White had spent the nine hours from 3 a.m. to noon smoking cocaine through a pipe in an unlit, abandoned warehouse. White and his friend were alone, and he felt that many were trying to kill him. He ran out of the warehouse and grabbed a garbage lid to hold in front of him like a shield. He ran into a business screaming, "Someone is trying to kill me!" After about thirty seconds, he ran out and went to a v!

or its efforts in chemical dependence, training, education, therapy, and research. In 1984 Cork and Hazelden jointly established a $6.9 million state-of-the-art facility in Center City, Minnesota, for the treatment and education of drug abusers. There athletes can learn to cope with life without relying on alcohol and drugs. In 1981 Operation Cork created a drug-treatment program for the San Diego Padres. Since then Cork has established similar programs for a variety of companies, institutions, and organizations. They established a program called "Employee Assistance Program," or EAP. Any player with a drug problem may, without penalty or cost, refer himself to professional treatment and counseling, put in place by the team.

One of the most alarming is the threat of AIDS, which can be transmitted if needles are shared. Some effects, such as rapid weight gain, are easy to see. Some take place internally and some are irreversible. Males who take large doses of anabolic steroids typically experience changes in sexual characteristics. Some possible side effects are shrinking of testicles, reduced sperm count, impotence, balding, difficulty in urinating, development of breasts, and enlarged prostate. Females may experience masculinization as well as other problems. They experience growth of facial hair, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice, and breast reduction. Although there are many different effects on the male and female, both may suffer from acne, jaundice, trembling, swelling of feet or ankles, and bad breath. There are also psychological effects caused by steroids.

e drug's debilitating effects have tarnished individual performances, shortened careers, and influenced the outcome of games and pennant races. Tim Raines is a

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Approximate Word count = 3898
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)