The Reasons for The Ban on Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports

People who are interested in sport know about the issues toward the use of performance enhancing drugs and how severely it is treated. Drug tests are required for professional athletes to prove their innocence and unannounced tests are sometimes required for the purpose of the restriction. Also, disqualification of medals was one of the strict consequences to stop the use of drugs. Despite these kinds of strict restrictions, there are still users. In addition, there are also voices wondering about whether the ban of drugs is justified and why it is such a major issue. To make the issues clear, the use of performance-enhancing drugs should be banned in sport. There are three main supporting reasons for this ban. They are for the health issues toward the use of performance-enhancing drugs, fairness and equal opportunity towards the athlete, and to prevent teenagers from using the drugs.

To start with the details, there are reasons why athletes use performance-enhancing drugs. According to Domhnall MacAuley, one reason for the use of drugs for some athletes is that athletes want to get the maximum amount of possible advantage. This would be due to the eagerness to seek glory, money, and profession in the current sports they are playing. Another reason would be the pressure toward athletes. But these reasons would not justify the use of drugs.

Health problems due to the use of drugs would be the first reason why drug use should be banned. Health and condition management is one of the main principles in sports which athletes need to care for better performance. It would not be the right move to risk health as an athlete not to mention, the use of drugs can have some health risks. One example of a drug that has risks on health would be gene doping. According to Christof Breitsameter, this doping changes the expression of DNA in a way that would improve performance. One specific example for a specific kind of gene doping would be myostatin drug. The purpose of this drug is to enhance performance but they have very dangerous risks. According to Iran J Public Health, the use of this drug could have some increase of risks such as oversize of muscles. These kinds of oversize muscles can increase the risk of a heart attack. Also, there are cases of the use of performance-enhancing drugs for medical issues. According to UNSW, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) is a drug used for fast recoveries for athletes. Even though the use of drugs is not focused on performance-enhancing and is focused on medical issues, it would not justify the use of drugs. According to Mayo Clinic, HGH also has health risks such as an increased risk of cancer and diabetes. These health issues toward the users of drugs would clearly account for the ban of the drugs.

The second reason would be due to fairness towards every athlete. Due to Pierre de Coubertin’s belief in the spirit of fair play, fairness has become an essential aspect of all sports. Using performance-enhancing drugs would violate these aspects of fairness. It would be due to the advantages that only some athletes get from the use of drugs. One famous example of this kind of unfairness would be the drug use of Ben Johnson. According to Olympic.org, Ben Johnson won the gold medal in 100m from the Seoul Olympics. But after he was caught using drugs, his medal was disqualified. He ran 0,19 seconds faster than the athlete who did not use the drug. Another famous athlete which used drugs in sport would be Lance Armstrong. According to CNN, Lance Armstrong is a cyclist who won several Tour de France and one Olympic medal. These medals and titles were all disqualified because he used several drugs for advantage to win these competitions. Like these cases, the use of drugs gave an unfair advantage to some athletes and did not give the fair chance to the athletes who did not use the drug in that race. To give fairness to all athletes, the use of drugs should be banned.

The last reason would be for the prevention of teenage users. According to NCBI, teenagers use performance-enhancing drugs. There are several reasons for the use and few reasons are to make the ideal body which social networks focus on and to perform in a better way in the sport.8 According to NCBI, some examples of drugs that teenagers use would be Anabolic steroids. There has been an observation that 3,3 percent of high school students used this steroid. This steroid also has some severe health risks. According to NIH, the use of this drug can lead to problems in the liver, tumor, and kidney. There is another example of a drug that teenagers use for performance enhancement. According to Mayo Clinic, amphetamines are another example of a drug that teenagers use. According to Better Health Channel, the use of this drug can lead to the health risk of the brain. With all these health risks, if the use of drugs is allowed in the sport, there could be an increase in drug users among teenagers. To prevent this, the use of drugs in sport should be banned.

In brief, the ban on performance-enhancing drugs in sport can be justified for three reasons. First, for the health issues such as risk in a heart attack which are caused through the use of drugs. Second, for fairness and equal opportunities toward everyone who participates in sports. Third, for the prevention of teenage users of drugs. For these reasons, performance-enhancing drugs should be banned in the aspect of sports. Also if the use of drugs would be allowed in the sport, there could be a lot of health issues for athletes, a lot of unfairness and no equal opportunity, and increased teenage use of drugs. This would not give a positive effect on the sports community nor the athletes. Sports should have no performance-enhancing users.