Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

The practice of enhancing physical performance with ingested substances has been around since ancient times. The Greeks were known to use a form of opium; other cultures have used mushrooms and even strychnine. But in modern times, the use of synthetic drugs to enhance athletic performance, commonly referred to as doping, has exploded, as evidenced by the recent massive doping scandals involving legendary athletes in the Tour de France and Major League Baseball. In response, a number of anti-doping organizations have been created to aggressively pursue what they regard as fairness in competition. The moral and ethical landscape surrounding doping is far from simple. How should we as society determine what are acceptable strategies for performance enhancement and what are not? The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), set up in 1999 by the International Olympic Committee to combat illegal performance enhancement in sports, defines doping as use of drugs that meets two of three criteria: enhancement of athletic pe