The banning of sportsmen and women who fail drug tests is unjustifiable

Abstract

The use of performance enhancing drugs among elite athletes has been in the headlines recently, particularly with Lance Armstrong's fall from grace and his admission about widespread doping. Many argue that the use of drugs confers an unfair advantage and is ultimately dangerous to the health of the athletes. Others, like Professor Shuster, argue that the use of drugs is no different from other techniques employed by athletes to boost their performance: swimmers shaving their body hair; skiers wearing sleek body armour; archers and shooters having laser eye surgery to improve their accuracy. Professor Shuster puts forward the provocative argument that since 'there is no acceptable proof (that) drugs improve competitive performance and their use is no different from accepted sports practice, banning them is wrong and immoral.' JW Devine argues the other side, that the use of performance enhancing drugs poses a 'significant risk to the health of athletes' and perhaps more importantly, 'threatens to undermine the very purpose of sport' by disrupting the 'balance of excellences'. © 2013 Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.