RE: The Sporting Taboo - Is Using Performance Enhancing Drugs Really Cheating?
The documentary Bigger. Stronger. Faster. is really entertaining and has a pretty balanced look at all of this. The documentarian looks at a lot of these inconsistencies such as taking a PED, vs blood doping, vs altitude training, vs hyperbaric chamber. All do the same thing, 2 are legal, 2 are not.
Other strange contradictions exist like tennis players being able to openly take cortisol shots (a steroid) but not anabolic steroids, etc. After all, if your knees can't take the beating shouldn't that be a determining factor in whether you win or lose?
And of course why is performance enhancement unfair in sports but not in life. Orchestra musicians take drugs to calm nerves, students take drugs to focus and study for the SATs. If someone gets a job instead of you, or accepted to a university instead of you because they took a drug and you did not, is that fair?
The documentary debunks many health concerns and I always hate that myth that the drugs are the cause of an athletes success. At the elite levels we are talking about the winners are already at peak performance through loads of hard work and willing to take substances to push it .5% more as these contests can be decided by hundredths of a second.
I'm definitely anti drug, but on a lot of this issue I'm surprisingly open. I have a hard time differentiating between a steroid or PED and a lot of other modern sports science and nutrition.
That being said it's definitely a professional level, adult decision. Seeing it in any kind of youth sport is troubling.
Thanks for such a great response. It is a strange situation as we all use drugs to some extent. I have my regular coffee to help me with thinking and to get going - imagine what would happen to intellectual pursuits if coffee was banned? I think many of the arguments that are made against drugs are as you point out inconsistent and logically flawed. I will see if I can hunt out that documentary.
I just checked and it's still on Netflix streaming if you have it. Very well done. It's made by Chris Bell who documents himself and his two brothers, all athletes. While he quit steroids because of his moral struggles with them, his brothers continued on. It has some real poignant moments and interviews, especially when you see some guys who just can't let go of a dream that has passed.
Cool I will take a look:)