Performance Enhancing Drugs
Doping and using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) within the sporting community is becoming more popular and people are going to higher extremes to cover it up. Drugs can be chemical substances that, by interaction with biological targets, can alter the bio-chemical systems of the body (Mottram, 2015:3). Suggesting that when an athlete takes a drug that is performance enhancing, their internal system will be reacting to the drug, thus allowing them to perform to a different level to a normal athlete. In addition to this, athletes can take drugs not only for performance enhancing benefits, some prescribed drugs can also contain substances that are banned within the competitive world of sports. During the 1950’s, there had been many attempts to control the use of substances within the sporting community. But it was the lack of testing equipment and procedures that led to the rife world of doping. In 1999 the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was introduced which put the sufficient measures and controls to combat doping which are still being developed to date. The 1972 Olympics was the first to ensure doping tests were carried out prior to athletes competing in the games.
Many substances that are banned according to the WADA, are found in everyday common medications. This is building an increased pressure on athletes and sparking big debates in the drug testing communities. Consequently, athletes’ privacy is being invaded due to “random, unannounced out-of-competition testing” (Schneider and Butcher, 2001:130). In addition, certain substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be stopped before a competition and still retain their effects on the individual. The use of masking agents has also caused an issue when drug testing as they can be used to hide the steroids, but again retain the effect of them. However, it is not always the athlete at fault when it comes to performance enhancing drugs. Come coaches get their hands on such substances and mix them with other supplements that the athlete is already taking. This is a problem meaning the athlete themselves would not then know that they are consuming prohibited substances.
This is causing an issue on wider society as there are young athletes who look up to and are inspired by athletes that are getting caught doping. They are then getting themselves into the vicious circle of using drugs, which ultimately means services such as the Police and emergency services are being stretched. Law enforcements in the United States are now working closely with the WADA in order to try and tackle doping once and for all. Performance enhancing drugs are now being sold on the streets, but with added ingredients making them highly addictive and deadly.
Mottram, D. (2015) Drugs and their use in sport. In Mottram, D. and Chester, N. (Eds.) (2015) Drugs In Sport. (6th ed.) New York: Routledge: 3-20.
Mottram, D. and Chester, N. (2015) Drugs In Sport. (6th ed.) New York: Routledge.
Schneider, A. and Butcher, R. (2001) An Ethical Analysis of Drug Testing. In Wilson, W. and Derse, E. (Eds.) (2001) Doping In Elite Sport. (1st ed.) Illinois: Human Kinetics: 129-151.