Time to allow doping? Really? (Page 3)

Agree. But if it was allowed, it would be done in the best possible conditions and would probably be super safe. It was just an example, though (with absolutely no medical knowledge).

Someone else mentioned Testosterone, or EPO being used for asthma, or Chlembuterol being all over in tainted meat, for instance. My point is, safe or not, I wouldn't want the athletes to openly become laboratory experiments and beat the rest because of that.

Alcohol alters the brain so I imagine it is a "poison or toxin" it is legal and yes in mass quantities it can kill you but plenty of people drink "betting it won't kill them" and come out fine. 

Same with testosterone, only it is natural to the body, in mass quantities it could kill you, but it appears many cyclists use it "betting it won't kill them" and they came out fine. 

Perhaps there is no good way to allow some drugs and not others, perhaps there will always be abuse no matter what the rules. 

My point is, the original article is not "ridiculous" IMO. I don't see a moral, nor really too big a safety issue (depending on the drug allowed). Yes I could see an administrative or logistical problem. But I don't think that throwing around the words needle, poison, toxin and cheating are enough to dissuade the argument.

I view the banning of PED's much the same as prohibition for alcohol, or marijuana being illegal. We overturned prohibition, marijuana is already legal for all intents and purposes in a few states and I wouldn't be surprised to see it legalized in more states and to not require a medicinal card in the not so distant future. I see the same happening for PED's and I don't have a problem with it.

The same words can be used for marijuana, instead of needle, say bong or pipe; instead of poison say mind altering smoke; instead of cheater, call them a criminal. These words don't carry the weight they used to and many people are coming around to the idea of legalizing marijuana, I can see the same happening with PED's. And so far I haven't seen much compelling argument to say it shouldn't happen. Beside the fact that it is "dumb".

and which league would you personally race in?

we're not just talking about pros here and who the public would rather see.  Shoot, 99% of the "public" could care less about watching cycling or triathlon, or any other endurance sport.  Its only the people who participate in these sports that actually watch them.

do you want to participate in a sport where the guy next to you is on something?

Put another way, where does the money for that larger contract come from? It comes from you. Athletes buy things that the athletes with larger contracts use. So those companies get a larger share of the market. That money gets budgeted out by the company the athlete with the bigger contract represents, and a portion goes to the athlete that is getting that bigger contract...

PED usage affects everyone. Well, everyone that pays taxes and buys from companies that sponsor athletes who dope.

Your apathy amazes me.

The problem with that is that they are STEALING that medal, that contract, or that podium from the guy that does it honestly. They agreed to follow rules, they signed their name, and then they CHEATED to STEAL what was not theirs.

Now if we are talking about shooting some heroin... well knock yourself out. Grown adults can indeed choose to do what they want in their free time.

Not sure how my position can be characterized as apathy, but I am pretty amazing.

MUL98:  You stated "Who cares if the substances are safe or not?"

The way I read that is that you don't care... i.e. apathetic.

Again, this is not just about what pro to watch or follow. This is about doping in sport.  All sports, at all levels.  Including that local sprint tri or IMWC, or a 10k fun run that you're gunning for.

To say things like  "who cares" and "we're all adults making our own decisions, good or bad" or "it's a problem we can't control" is apathetic.  You clearly do not care of the reprecussions of the widespread use of PEDs in our little sport.

We have some truly great athletes out there that might never see the top because they didn't cheat. Openly allowing PED use changes the sport. That makes me sad for my kids. Their role models will be great for who designed their doping regimen. Sickening.

there is no such thing as black and white.... so you allow doping, it changes nothing. People will start to not care for dopers. Why should they? You have a talented guy, that would rather see gains from chemistry than from work. What do I care about watching him?

That is exactly what would happen. Those talented athlete that want short cuts. I see no reason why their share of the revenue pie would be bigger. Also, you have some breakthrough in some new dope, and some people have it and some don't. It will probably be even more expensive and then only some will have it and some don't. Once again PEDs are determining winners, not hard work and talent.

So then you have clean athletes. Tops at what they do. Not only that, hard working to get the most out of their talent the right way. And they can still compete, without becoming an science experiment and risking their health. That's the guy I want to watch. Someone that is showing me what the human body is capable of, not what steroids and drugs are capable of.... their revenue grows.

Well heck... then I better go where the money is and I know how to not get caught. CHEATING. And if they do get caught, so what, just go to doping league. You scenario is not going to stop cheating. It is not going to solve who gets watched. The point is to deal with performance through chemistry and not make it easier.

Maybe I don't know about PED's or the people that use them.  I don't run in those circles.

I always thought they just raised the ceiling of your maximum potential but you still had to work to get there.  People have a limit if they train clean, but PED's raise the limit but you still have to work your but off to get there.

I'm not saying that justifies it.  But I don't think I could sit on the couch injecting PED's and be stronger than the guy out there clean training every day.

I don't think you get stronger by chemistry instead of training.  You get stronger than you normally would.  Or it allows you to train MORE/HARDER.

I think the hard work is always there, the drugs just you do more or moves the ceiling of your potential.