Why We Shouldn T Performance Enhancing Drugs Be Banned In Sports

Dying to win: Drugs in sport and competition

Athletes at all levels are exposed to the pressures to win and achieve excellence in the sporting world. These pressures can take a negative toll on athletes, driving them towards the use of performance-enhancing drugs (Simon, 2007). Since the 1960’s when doping regulations came into practice, drugs and sports has become a hot topic of moral and ethical debate on whether drugs should or should not be taken by athletes to enhance performance despite performance-enhancing drugs having been around since the era of the roman gladiators (Waddington & Smith, 2008). It is important to understand the view of sport in society and how this reflects ethics and morals examining the two conflicting side
So what are the reasons for banning these performance-enhancing drugs? The biggest emphasis of the banning of these drugs comes down to the harm that they cause to the individuals taking them. Steroids for example are a substance that causes many adverse health effects. Most are physical, effecting the normal functioning of the internal organs and suppressing the natural production of hormones, however there are psychological impacts such as aggression and addiction that can last for life (Evans, 2008). Another impact that performance-enhancing drugs are the negative image that is associated with the taking of drugs in relation to the educative value that sport has in society. Another way to look at the banning of drugs is from the athlete’s moral perspective. Mroczkowska (2011) interviewed athletes who were involved in individual, top league and junior team sports to determine their view on the risks and impact that the use of performance enhancing drugs would have on them. The athletes from the different codes all saw that the biggest risk taking performance-enhancing drugs would affect their health, respect and public image. These risks emphasise the need for the heightened control around the use of drugs because of the influence they have on the
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