Should Drugs in Sport be Legalised?
The use of drugs in sport to enhance performance is not a new concept and is constantly improving. The continued abuse of illegal drugs by athletes has made it clear they are willing to risk their future health, respect for themselves, other participants and their sport to be the best. Since the illegalisation of performance enhancing drugs so that athletes do not have an ‘unfair’ advantage, organisations that do test for drugs in sport are fighting a losing battle as athletes and their trainers constantly devise new drugs and methods to beat drug testing (Bamberger & Yaeger 1997). For this reason, the question of controlled use of performance enhancing drugs in sport should be permitted has arisen.
The use of drugs in sport to enhance performance is not a new concept and is constantly improving. The continued abuse of illegal drugs by athletes has made it clear they are willing to risk their future health, respect for themselves, other participants and their sport to be the best. Since the illegalisation of performance enhancing drugs so that athletes do not have an ‘unfair’ advantage, organisations that do test for drugs in sport are fighting a losing battle as athletes and their trainers constantly devise new drugs and methods to beat drug testing (Bamberger & Yaeger 1997). For this reason, the question of controlled use of performance enhancing drugs in sport should be permitted has arisen.
It is no secret that performance enhancing drugs has been
used by athletes for decades and those athletes will risk almost anything to
gain a competitive edge. Bamberger & Yaeger (1997) reports of a scenario
from a poll in 1995 where 198 athletes made up of US Olympians or aspiring
Olympians were asked two questions: If they were offered a banned substance
that comes with the guarantee that they would not be caught and they would win
every competition they entered for the next five years, but then they would die
from the side effects of the substance. Would they take it? More than half said
yes. Research like this makes the notion of legalising performance enhancing
drugs seem extremely immoral and unacceptable for sports organisations to
expose their athletes to such risks, especially the athletes willingness to risk
so much to win. Not to mention a violation of the ‘spirit of sport’ that has
been created over the last century in elite and amateur competition.
However, Savulescu, Foddy & Clayton (2013) argues that
if performance enhancing drugs were legalised and freely available, it would be
the end of cheating. Moreover, if these drugs become legal and all athletes had
access to the same enhancements does that violate the ‘spirit of sport’ any
longer? Savulescu, Foddy & Clayton (2013, p. 667) uses the hypothetical
example, “if all athletes responded to the approved doping measures in the same
way and their performance improves in the same way, it that case, the results
of the finishing order of a cyclist race would remain unchanged”. Therefore,
there is no unfair advantage given; only the performance and the competiveness
are increased.
Another argument is that with the advances is sports science
and the high competitiveness of elite competition, sport discriminates against
the genetically unfit and is only for the genetic elite” (Wiesing 2011). Savulescu,
Foddy & Clayton (2013) states that nature is unfair, for example, Ian
Thorpe has very large feet which gave him an advantage that no other swimmer
can get, no matter how much they train or exercise. By allowing everyone to
take performance enhancing drugs, we level the playing field and remove the
effects of genetic inequality. Therefore, allowing performance enhancement
promotes equality which indeed is a characteristic of the spirit of sport.
The argument for and against the legalisation of performance
enhancing drugs in sport operates on different levels. There is the constant
battle that organisations face with drug testing. Performance drugs and methods
are continually improving to avoid detection and it is hard to justify the
costs that are created from this as it is a losing battle. On another level,
there is the argument that touches on the ‘spirit of sport’, the naturalist ideal
with performance in sport and how legalising drugs would permanently damage the
image of elite athletes and sport in general. Moreover, further studies are
needed to investigate the pro’s and con’s of the concept of legalising
performance enhancing drugs before any move to change laws and regulations can
be acted on.
By Jordan Reeve
Reference
Dudley, W (ed.) 2004, Drugs
and Sport, Greenhaven Press, California
Savulescu, J, Foddy, B & Clayton, M. (2013). Why we
Should Allow Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sport. Journal of Sports Medicine, 38, 666-670
Wiesing, U (2011). Should Performance Enhancing Drugs in
Sport be Legalised under Medical Supervision? Journal of Sports Medicine, 41(2), 167-176
Jordon, you have an interesting blog title and one which allows you to be very critical of the current doping procedure and also of the call for legitimising drug use in sport. You touch up on some key points when you reference authors like Clayton,Foddy, Savulescu. You need to hone in on what they are saying and pursuade readers that your way of thinking on this matter is valid. The information you have provided is interesting and shows research, however, you are missing the key component of critical analysis. I have popped a help sheet from Palgrave on Moodle under week 10 to help with this issue of being critical, I hope it helps.
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