The drug wars

Sport Management Review, 2011

Drug and Alcohol Review, 2008

This paper considers the assumptions underpinning the current drugs-in-sport policy arrangements. Approach We examine the assumptions and contradictions inherent in the policy approach, paying particular attention to the evidence that supports different policy arrangements. Key findings We find that the current anti-doping policy of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) contains inconsistencies and ambiguities. WADA's policy position is predicated upon four fundamental principles; first, the need for sport to set a good example; second, the necessity of ensuring a level playing field; third, the responsibility to protect the health of athletes; and fourth, the importance of preserving the integrity of sport. A review of the evidence, however, suggests that sport is a problematic institution when it comes to setting a good example for the rest of society. Neither is it clear that sport has an inherent or essential integrity that can only be sustained through regulation. Furthermore, it is doubtful that WADA's anti-doping policy is effective in maintaining a level playing field, or is the best means of protecting the health of athletes. Implications and conclusions The WADA anti-doping policy is too heavily based on principals of minimising drug use, and gives insufficient weight to the minimisation of drug related harms. As a result drug 3 related harms are being poorly managed in sport. We argue that anti-doping policy in sport would benefit from placing greater emphasis on a harm minimisation model.

Performance Enhancement & Health, 2013

Anti-doping regulation has become a critical element of contemporary sport, conveying what substances and methods athletes may use. Although this form of regulation is often synonymous with banning performance enhancing substances and methods, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the global authority tasked with formulating policies on drug use in sports also regulates illicit drugs, including those considered non-performance enhancing. This paper examines how the inclusion of illicit drugs on the WADA Prohibited List falls under the agency's mandate by focusing on how the agency justifies the prohibition of substances more generally. In so doing, it highlights inconsistencies in the criteria used to evaluate whether or not substances should be prohibited. After critically considering WADA's criteria, this paper posits a way to reconcile the inconsistencies. It suggests that aligning the criteria with existing claims that doping is a broader health concern provides a way for WADA to clarify ambiguities around why substances are on the WADA Prohibited List and better communicate why it regulates illicit non-performance enhancing drugs.

Harm reduction journal, 2015

Recent exposes of drug use in sports suggest that doping might be more problematic than doping-control test results reveal. A zero-tolerance (ZT) model, which aims to eliminate the use, has dominated the thinking of sport's policy makers over the last 15 years. In light of the limitations associated with ZT-based policy, we propose an alternative policy, one based on controlled use and harm reduction principles. We argue that substance control policies underpinned by harm reduction (HR) principles of social utility and public value will deliver superior social outcomes. First, a harm reduction approach better accommodates the competitive realities of sports and the impact of elite sports' emphasis on performance at all costs. Second, HR prioritises athlete welfare over sport and brand reputation. Finally, while appreciating the regulatory and risk management responsibilities of sports' governing bodies, the HR model offers greater space to the athlete's right to priv...

Sport is often presented as a valuable social institution important for community wellbeing and athletes as positive role models for youth while use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) is constructed as a danger that threatens sport. Less well considered are the relationships between dominant groups and the impact these have on the anti-doping debate. I consider whether a Weberian-inspired consideration of legitimacy applied to the anti-doping debate brings organisational power relationships between elite sports governing bodies into the analysis. Underpinning this discussion is the claim that legitimacy is multi-dimensional and includes the subjective component of the social audience influenced by organisational responses to particular issues or events . This also highlights the dynamic social context in which social problems, such as doping, take place. I explore legitimacy in the debate around anti-doping policy between the Australian Federal government and the Australian Football League (AFL).

Performance Enhancement & Health, 2013

This paper examines current policies towards drug use in sport to evaluate their appropriateness. The focus is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA's) attitudes and policies towards athletes' use of recreational drugs. Since recreational drugs such as marijuana are not performance-enhancing, one of the most frequently used arguments to justify doping controls -that those involved in drug use derive an unfair advantage over other competitors -cannot be used to justify controls on the use of such drugs. Given this, it is suggested that the attempt to control the use of marijuana within a sporting context is best understood in terms of the growing concern about drug 'abuse' within the wider society. The paper further suggests that the WADA has used the 'spirit of sport' argument to reach beyond traditionally accepted sporting concerns. In this regard, WADA is using anti-doping regulations to police personal lifestyle and social activities that are unrelated to sporting performance. On this basis, it is concluded that WADA's focus and resources should return to enforcing sporting values related to doping rather than policing athletes' lifestyles, and it is therefore suggested that the ban on marijuana and similar recreational drugs should be lifted.

Chemical Physics, 2007

ABSTRACT The coupling between the hydrogen atoms transfer and the base pair opening processes in the adenine–thymine system have been studied with a quantum-dynamics theoretical approach in a four-dimensional model. The modifications induced by the explicit inclusion of the out-of-plane hydrogen atom position in the two bridges have been evidenced and the consequences on the biological properties suggested.