Good and bad drugs use in sports. Photo credit: Fisher-Photostudio.
The ethics codes of sports ban athletes from using a plethora of drugs. Most of the banned ones can have drastic changes on one’s body and mind (cocaine, morphine, heroin, to name a few).
However, if we are to look at the large picture made by drugs, we can see that not all of them are banned from sports. Why? Well, it’s because it is those drugs that officials label as performance enhancers that sports organizations usually forbid. Those that don’t enhance performance enough to give an advantage in competition remain free for use, more or less.
This brings up a discussion on the theme of the good and the bad when it comes to drugs and sports.
The Bad
We all know the bad! The bad part about people in competitions using drugs is obvious whenever officials ban an athlete from future events. For example, officials have banned the entire country of Russia from a variety of events for a period of two years after they discovered that some of its athletes were doping, according to The Washington Post.
This is the bad: taking certain drugs only to gain an advantage over one’s opponent. In short – cheating of the highest level. When it comes to sports and competitions, one should push themselves to their maximum and hope for the best (which is a win).
Obviously, having a drug push an athlete to those limits is unethical, unfair, and makes them weak of character.
The Good
One can probably count on one hand the good sides of drugs and sports. While one would need a 10-page document to display the full list of banned substances from sports, the list of acceptable ones probably doesn’t even exist.
One of the good drugs, so to speak, is CBD. At the moment, most sports event do not ban the substance (though it might be on a local scale) and no one will say anything to athletes if they enjoy some Joy Organics CBD gummies before a match or a competition.
On the other hand, it is also worth mentioning that athletes often use the good drugs prior to and after an event/competition. Why? Because most of these drugs/substances do nothing more than help them cope with stress and performance-anxiety – while CBD is also great at relieving pain.
The Issues
There are a couple of issues. For instance, sports organization might ban medicine meant to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety, depending on the concentration of a certain substance in it. As a result, a struggling athlete might be banned from a competition without knowing what they did wrong.
The same applies to CBD products that happen to have more than 0.2% THC (since officials ban THC in sports). A simple error on the product’s label or a misunderstanding can easily lead to disqualification.
In the end, this may force athletes to quit using the substances that help manage and relieve stress so that they don’t risk their hard work.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, one could argue that there is no good and bad when it comes to drugs and sports – all substances are bad and shouldn’t be used unless they help with the management of moderate to serious health conditions.
On the other hand, the ever-increasing population of anxiety-stricken and stress-devastated teens could use the help of substances like CBD. And if the improvement is noticeable, then maybe it should remain acceptable to use it and similar products.
Leave a Reply