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Should performance-enhancing drugs be

legalized in sports?
5A Lau Long Fung, Ronald

At the 2002 European Championships in Munich, British sprinter Dwain Chambers won
a silver medal in 4x100 meters relay and broke a world record on 100-meter sprint with
9.87 seconds. He became the British hope of getting a gold medal in the coming Olympics.
However, in August 2003, he was caught using tetrahydrogestrinone, known as ‘THG’, before
competitions. So all of his medals and world records were taken back. ‘THG’ is known as one
of the performance-enhancing drugs in sports, this kind of drug can bulk up the body muscles,
increase the muscle strength, accelerate the recovery of muscles and thus enhance the
performance of athletes. However, performance-enhancing drugs bring side effects to sports
players too. Therefore, there are arguments over whether performance-enhancing drugs
should be legalized or be banned in sports.
On the one hand, there is scientific evidence that shows athletes can perform
outstandingly and become superstars after they have taken these drugs. There are no
doubts that these drugs can maximize body strength and raise the potentials of the body. For
instance, Mark McGwire hit the most home runs comparing with other baseball players in
1998, everyone admired his strength and skills. All of those compliments were attributed to
the performance-enhancing drugs. Therefore, it proves that legalizing performance-enhancing
drugs can maximize all the athletes’ performance. There will be more competitive competitors
in sports. Performance-enhancing drugs can help the athletes reach a higher level of
sports, maximize the body strength and skills in a short period of time, which is a shortcut to
professional athletes.
On the other hand, one of the most serious problems of taking performance-enhancing
drugs is that athletes will suffer from physical damage. When athletes take drugs at practice,
they actually worsen their growth and body activities. For example, anabolic steroids will
increase blood pressure which may lead to heart disease, taking athletes closer to the edge
of death. Moreover, athletes may become addicted to drugs and constantly take them to
maintain fitness, so drug addiction is resulted. There were athletes who died because of
performance-enhancing drug abuse before, such as Claire Squires who died due to the fact
that drugs increased her heart beating rate during London Marathon. Therefore, when athletes
are performing well after doping, he or she is also putting his or her life at risk, too.
It has also been suggested that more fans will support different kinds of sports after legalizing
performance-enhancing drugs. As mentioned before, the level of the sports field will be raised
due to the drug effects. Consequently, the sports will become more compelling, then more
audience and supporters will draw attention to sports. The more supporters to sports, the
wider sports will spread to the world. Therefore, legalizing the drugs in sports may promote
sports faster and wider to the whole world.
Those who disagree to these ideas may assert that performance-enhancing drugs will let
down the supporters to the sports and legalize the drugs will wipe out sports from the history
slowly. If drugs are legalized for athletes, their supporters may think the athletes are actually

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