[vincesanity82]

It's easy to lump all performance-enhancing drugs together, but not all banned drugs are created equal. Anabolic steroids have obvious benefits in the form of making athletes bigger, stronger and faster, but the research on the benefits of human growth hormone is mixed at best. From Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun (via Sabernomics):

[W]hen a player is linked to hGH, as Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons was by an SI.com report, many presume the player was desperate to bulk up and power baseballs into the stands.

The scientific community doesn't uniformly agree, however, that hGH would help an athlete do so. Several studies of senior patients have found that hGH helps build lean muscle mass but does not increase muscle strength. This conclusion might not transfer perfectly to high-level athletes in their physical primes. But there is no laboratory-based evidence that hGH would help strengthen these elite performers, several researchers said.

If there's no benefit in terms of added strength, why do athletes take it? Because some people think it might help with recovering from injuries.

"I'm not sure the research is in place," [Dr. Gary] Wadler said, "but the general sense among people who deal with these issues is that it can be a reasonably effective recovery tool."

Does Using HGH Even Help Athletes? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog