Although I an also against bribing in sports, I have to scratch an itch and apply an ointment to prevent a rash when it comes to drugs in sports.
My opinion is that drug research, fueled by the desire to win, pushes the boundaries of medical research. I hate it when children are used by certain state governments to push for the medal counts. The young athletes usually have no knowledge of what is being done to them and it is the Sports program that is the cheat. For older athletes, both professional and amateur, I rather see the individual athlete as being part of the risk/reward process.
When it comes to sports enhancing drugs, the libido has been a prime member receiving doses of stimulants to improve its function. The research that lead to these new products are a direct carry over from the field of sports drug research.
And for the Java junkies:
caffeine used to be one of the substances checked for by the IOC but the World Anti-Doping Agency removed caffeine from its list of banned substances in 2004. A urinary test that returned an amount of 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter was considered by the IOC as a deliberate attempt to gain an advantage. Although not banned, it is still being checked for and should the WADA find enough athletes that have an elevated level of caffeine in their system, they will revisit their policy to determine whether it should go back on their list of banned substances.I await your jittery response.
