Drug Use in Sports

Drug Use in Sports

The fierce competitive nature of the modern sports' world, in combination with society's demand for excellence, has caused athletes to seek alternative means to enhance their performance. Today's athlete faces an increasingly difficult choice: to use drugs to enhance performance or to accept what could amount to a competitive handicap. It is a choice, which carries significant ethical considerations. Should athletes be permitted to make this choice, or should society, through the medium of sports' governing bodies strictly enforce the ban on performance enhancing drugs? Some argue that the choice should be left to the athletes in order to respect their individual choice above any ethical considerations. Others choose to ban performance-enhancing drugs with the intention of protecting the athlete against the potentially harmful consequences of his or her own actions. Athletes who are caught using illegal drugs are often exposed through the media and negatively discriminated against by the sporting community. The result is that the athlete faces a double bind conflict: he or she is pressured to produce superhuman performance, yet must remain ethically human while preparing for them. The ramifications of cheating in sport are numerous and all negative in nature. Beyond the negative aspect which cheating in sports presents, are dangerous physiological and psychological side effects, which the athlete faces when, using performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic and androgenic steroids. At the heart of anti-drug use in sport debates, lies the theory that drugs sabotage the true intention of sport. The continuing saga of drug use in sport is not only unethical but also negatively impacts the athlete, as well as the sporting community. In addition, the socio-cultural factors, which contribute to the use of steroids, will also be discussed.

Before trying to prove that drugs serve no positive role in sport, it would be beneficial to outline the history of drug use in sport. In the early 1950's, athletes in the eastern European world were already using crude forms of testosterone injections to increase their strength (American Academy of Pediatrics 2). News of this new drug spread when Russian weightlifters shattered previous weight lifting records with consistency. Dr. John Ziegler was able to confirm this rumor, and upon return to the U.S., promised to give American athletes the same edge. In 1956, he developed Dianabol, the early derivative of testosterone (Taylor 10). Its use soon spread among many countries throughout the world. Early users included mainly bodybuilders, weightlifters, football players, and discus, shot put, or javelin throwers who relied heavily on bulk and strength for increased performance. Scientists soon discovered that by altering testosterone, the side effects could be removed or significantly lessened. The result was the creation of anabolic steroids. By the late 1950's and early 1960's all of the current anabolic steroids had already been manufactured in laboratories. By the 1980's non-athletes discovered the body-enhancing properties of steroids and the black market began to flourish for the illegal production and distribution for non-medical purposes. Anabolic steroids were used legally to treat a limited number of medical conditions that cause a degeneration of muscle tissue such as AIDS and certain cancers. European attitudes continue to be quite liberal in comparison to the strict bans that are enforced in the U.S. and Canada. Today, recent statistics report that there are over three million American athletes, male and female, who are using steroids to enhance performance in sports (AAP). A recent article published by the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI.) has stated that 90% of professional athletes have at one time taken some form of illegal performance-enhancing drug. (NCADI. 2)

Athletes who are caught using steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs face the consequences, which our culture places upon them. Ben Johnson drew considerable negative attention to himself, as well as to Canada, as a sports competitor when he admitted to using anabolic steroids following a win in the 100 m race at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The medal was revoked and Johnson's reputation destroyed. As a result, he received a lifetime ban from sport (Taylor 23).

The Chinese swimming team was banned from participating in the Pan-Pacific swimming games of 1997 because of claims made by competing nations that China was involved in drug use. Baseball all-star, Mark McGuire, recently broke Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs in a season by hitting 70 of his own homeruns in the 1998 season. During an interview that he was giving next to his locker, a reporter noticed a bottle of androstenedione on the top shelf. Androstenedione is a legal dietary supplement that is a testosterone- producing drug which helps the body repair itself between workouts (AAP). McGuire was immediately discriminated against by many members of the media and sporting community as being a drug user and not deserving of the record. Society's discrimination against McGuire and androstene was significantly lessened when respected sources published anti-androstene articles, which noted false claims and undesirable side effects of the drug. To date, no studies have shown androstene supplementation to have a positive effect on lean mass, strength, or performance. Androstenedione is banned by a number of sports' organizations such as the NFL, N.C.A.A. and the I.O.C., but is legal in the M.L.B.A.

Another concept to understand when dealing with the use of drugs in sport is the nature of sports as an organization. The common element in sports is the goal of identifying and rewarding certain forms of human excellence. Fierce competition, teamwork, effort, ability, desire, strategy and excellence are the main elements of sport which are all positively regarded. Unfair advantages, sabotaging competitors and using banned equipment and substances are all seen as negative practices. Society constantly evaluates what are legitimate and illegitimate means of attaining the end. This can be seen in the introduction of the relatively new supplement discussed earlier: androstenedione. "This drug was highly discriminated against until it was discovered that the apparent 'edge' it produced was so insignificant that fairness could be maintained."(Gwartney 65)

Drugs and other performance enhancers do not reflect the forms of human excellence which sports are intended to honor. Using performance-enhancing drugs is analogous to using a corked or lead-weighted bat in baseball. In either case, the