The Need to Legalize Performance-Enhancing Drugs
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English 101 Paper
10 July 2015
The issue of performance-enhancing substances has continued to exist for centuries (Crowther 485). In virtually all athletic competitions humankind has engaged in, the urge to gain an edge over competitors has been irresistible. Over time, some performance-enhancing substances such as steroids have been banned not just because of their dangerous side effects but also the competitive edge they give users over the rest of the athletes. Currently, a heated debate has ensued on whether the banning of these substances and the subsequent imposition of penalties to violators is the best strategy to address the problem (Savulescu, Foddy and Clayton 666). So far, this strategy has produced very poor results. Many elite athletes in different sports, including baseball, basketball, and football continue to be caught using these drugs. The indication is that time has come for a change of strategy. Against this backdrop, this paper presents an argument in support of the thesis that performance-enhancing drugs must be legalized in order to ensure that all athletes are subjected to a level playing ground.
Legalizing performance-enhancing drugs has numerous benefits for athletes. To begin with, the move will lead athletes into doing away with the traditional practice of using these drugs secretively. Since the fear of legal and disciplinary measures if caught will not arise, athletes will be willing to talk openly about the benefits and challenges they have faced while using the drugs. This information will be critical for sports governing bodies’ efforts to gather empirical evidence on optimal dose levels and long-term health effects of different performance-enhancing substances. Another major challenge that will be resolved through legalization is equitability. Traditionally, the most potent performance-enhancing drugs have been the reserve of elite athletes due to their superior financial power (Savulescu, Foddy and Clayton 669). With legalization, national sports federations will be at liberty to offer financial support to upcoming athletes with a view to enable them to afford the most effective performance-enhancing drugs.
The current legal regime has been addressing the issue of performance-enhancing drugs using the wrong approach – that of cheating and fairness in sport. In this regard, the most dominant argument is that athletes who use these drugs destroy the spirit of sports, and that it is unfair for them to get medals they could not have won were it not for the drugs. This approach has failed because prohibition based on the abstract concepts of fairness and integrity can never lead to a decrease in the use of these drugs. On the contrary, it creates a black market that seeks to supply the demand among athletes who, in line with the sporting tradition, are always seeking to have an edge over their competitors (Buechel, Emrich and Pohlkamp 3).
Meanwhile, other than addressing the controversial subject of cheating and fairness in sport, legalizing performance-enhancing drugs will be in the best interest of athletes’ wellbeing. In the past, the preoccupation for sports authorities has been carry out urine and blood tests to detect the abusers of these substances with little or no regard for their health (Ashenden 227). With legalization, the health and fitness of athletes to perform will be evaluated more regularly and rigorously. Manufacturers of performance-enhancing drugs will no longer have the incentive to produce drugs that cannot be detected through doping tests. Rather, they will be focused solely on ensuring that they are safe for athletes to use. In other words, the only limit to the use of performance-enhancing drugs will be safety. Safety is not an abstract concept considering that no athlete is willing to risk his life simply to get a medal. Thus, this paper concludes by confirming the thesis that performance-enhancing drugs must be legalized in order to ensure that all athletes perform on a level playing ground.
Works Cited
Ashenden, Michael. “A strategy to deter blood doping in sport.” Haematologica, 87.3 (2002): 225-234.
Buechel, Berno., Emrich, Eike and Pohlkamp, Stefanie. “Nobody’s Innocent: The Role of Customers in the Doping Dilemma.” Journal of Sports Economics, 7(2014): 1-6.
Crowther, Nigel. Nothing New under the Olympic Sun? The Swearing of Oaths at the Ancient and Modern Games. Proceedings of International Symposium for Olympic Research, 2008. Online.
Savulescu, Julian., Foddy, Bennett., and Clayton, Michael. 2004. “Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sports.” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 38, (2004): 666-670.
