TweetSince the "Genie was let out of the lamp" in the 60s bodybuilding has never stopped using steroids. Other sports like the NFL (Cowboys and Steelers especially) used them in the 60s and 70s like candy (yes and this carried on in the 80s and 90s as well). It was not till 88 Seoul Olympics when Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis that they became "demonized/scheduled". I think 7 or 8 of the top ten sprinters that year was on a PED including Carl Lewis. So congress scheduled them while the DEA and FDA thought it was stupid to do this. Steroids in the 70s and 80s did not impact society in a negative way. Giving a athlete more speed or strength does not qualify it as a "harmful" drug.
Bodybuilding unlike other sports does not test for PEDS. 95% of society does not care if guys in speedos oil their bodies up and pose. So steroids stayed VERY prevalent in bodybuilding while baseball, football and most sports test and test and test for PEDS. Look at poor A Rod. He gets treated worse then Aaron Hernandez which is a freaking killer.
Now their are "natural" contests that test but this does not rule out all PEDS. This is one test before the competition, there for not too hard to beat. As for the question does bodybuilding require steroids. No. But if you want to compete, you have to play the game that is in place.