performance enhancing drugs

Should performance-enhancing drugs be legalized?

The use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sports, also known as doping substances, can be traced back to the first Olympic games in Greece (Wada, 2010). This illegal practice, which was then perceived as part of the sport, is now regarded as a serious offence. Just recently in 2012, the court of arbitration (CAS) banned Jan Ulrich, a German cyclist, for a period of two years for using PEDs (CAS, 2012). Even more recently another cyclist icon Lance Armstrong, received a lifetime ban this time by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, in its persistent fight against PEDs (USADA, 2012). Today athletes are subject to incessant drugs tests all year round and just in 2012 the USADA performed 8,490 tests more than half of which were out of competition (USADA, 2012b). The fact of the matter is that, many substances banned by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) have no reason to be banned, for they are produced naturally by the human body e.g. the human growth hormone, whose levels can decrease (Molitch et al., 2011). In addition, the fight against drugs in sports is vain, as drug testing cannot keep up with all the different types of doping substances and methods (B. Foddy, J. Savulescu, 2007). For instance EPO, a hormone that stimulates blood cell production, was banned in early 1990s but was only able to be detected from the year 2000 (WADA, 2011). Nowadays, athletes who use PEDS outnumber those who do not, which means that there is no fair play in sports (Goldstein, 1990). For these reasons the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports should be legalized.

To begin with, the World Anti-Doping Agency has banned a number of substances, such as the human growth hormone (HGH), wh...

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...raining in the most part. (Noakes., 2004). This goes to show that the use of PEDs is no way contrary to dedication and commitment, which are some of the values that characterize the spirit of sports. Despite this, the WADA stripped Lance Armstrong of all his medals in 2012 simply because he had used PEDs during his career, reducing to ashes years of hard work as if his victories were only the result of doping.

In conclusion, sports authorities should allow athletes to use PEDs to compensate certain deficiencies and to improve their mental and physical condition, as they deem necessary. Indeed, It should be up to the athlete to judge what substance they need to use in order to be at their best when competing. Plus, due to the cost and failure of drug testing over the years as well as the lack of fairness in sports today, the time has come for PEDs to be legalized.