Performance Enhancing Drugs

The morality of use and legalization of performance-enhancing drugs is a controversial topic. I will argue that the use of PED’s is immoral, and should not be legalized. To support this I will indicate the ways in which some athletes are exploited by the legalization of PED’s along with other disadvantages of these drugs. With the use of PEDs as it is now, athletes who do not illegally use them are set at a disadvantage. It is believed that the legalization of performance enhancing drugs would “even the playing field,” since every athlete would have access to these drugs. This belief however excludes the idea of the magnanimous athlete, who exemplifies the spirit of equality. “Many athletes aspire to athletic excellence, but the
Playing soccer come with high risks for knee and ankle problems, (…) and boxing can lead to brain damage” (Kayser, Mauron, Miah S21). This point however is irrelevant because these are known risks and are partially unavoidable in the nature of the sport. There are precautions however that can be taken while training to minimize these risks and athletes are fully educated on how to treat or prevent sports-related injuries. The same cannot be said for the risks of PEDs. “Many athletes currently using steroids and other dangerous PEDs are probably unaware of the full extent of the medical risks that they are running. Most athletes lack detailed pharmacological knowledge and even experts do not yet have definitive information on the risks of many PEDs, given the relatively short period of time these drugs have been taken and studied” (Dixon 248). Essentially, in addition to the known risks of PED use, numerous others may exist beyond our knowledge. This issue however, has a plausible solution. “We could restrict access to PEDs to athletes who have completed a mandatory course whose instructors present the current state of knowledge about the effects and dangers of PEDs” (Dixon 248). Furthermore on the issue of safety, there is the argument that overall it will be safer if PEDs are legalized since they will be regulated. “It would be a
With the public acceptance of PED use would most likely come a decrease in fans. “To the extent that the public perceives that a PED reduces the role of skill and replaces it by chemically induced brute strength and endurance, it is likely to lose interest in the sports in which it is used” (Dixon 262). While the loss would be for the most part monetary, it could eventually lead to the downfall of said sport. “The harm would be primarily financial, but this in turn could lead to the demise of professional leagues and contests” (262). Following such an extreme financial downturn, the sport would lose its