by Dolf

Created on: May 19, 2009

We need to be realistic when discussing professional sports. Professional sports are big business first and sport second. Anyone who believes otherwise is naive. When the desire to achieve profits is married to athletic ability, performance enhancement will always be present, either in the foreground or the background.

History tells us that performance enhancement has always been a part of athletic competition. Whether it is the practice of lifting weights to grow larger muscles or something as simple as using olive oil to make one harder to grab (as the ancient Greek wrestlers did), there has always been the desire to be faster, bigger, stronger, etc. Archaeologists tell us that Mayan warriors followed the practice of chewing coca leaves (cocaine) to make themselves stronger and fearless in battle. The Aztecs used cocoa and cayenne pepper to brew a drink to make them ready for battle. Even today, many of us use coffee in the morning as a stimulate to get us moving.

Today, there is a wide variety of sports drinks that are available to everyone. They contain vitamins, minerals, etc. to fuel the body and provide maximum hydration. Sports stress the body. That is why athletes practice and train. They want to hone their bodies to perform at the highest level and to be able to withstand injury. Athletes have limited careers. All professional sports are demanding both physically and mentally. It is very easy to understand why professional athletes who are making millions of dollars each season want to prolong their careers.

There does need to be a line drawn in the sand between amateur and professional sports. No drug use should be permitted in amateur sports. Since the principal tenant of performance at the amateur level is ability and skill, a drug free policy should be strictly enforced with severe penalties for violators. However, for those athletes with the ability to move on to the professional arena, Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs and substances should be allowed.

When one has shown they have the skill and ability to compete at the professional level, they should also be afforded the opportunity to chose if they want to use steroids and/or other LEGAL substances to enhance their performance. The caveat would be that they must first register with the appropriate league as an enhancement user. Each league would determine for itself how this would be accomplished.

The league would then assign the athlete to a licensed

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