You look at pictures of Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds before and after his steroids use and you shake your head. Athletes like Bonds are now looked down upon instead of praised.
Society wonders out loud how supposed role models could allow dangerous substances to be injected into their body regardless of the perceived advantages.
But even as steroid use is becoming less prevalent in the sports world, other drugs are starting to emerge.
Athletes will always try to get a leg up in the ultra competitive world of Olympic and professional sport and there are always other ways to get ahead.
A new era of drug use is starting to open. It is an era where things are not as black and white as they were when athletes like Bonds were gaining muscle weight at incredible pace.
Athletes seeking to improve their performance are now using drugs like Ritalin and Adderall as a way of improving their mental capabilities.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has addressed this grey area of drug use by making an allowance for what they call a therapeutic use exemption or TUE.
The exemption allows athletes to use a substance on the WADA prohibited drug list without fear of punishment. But where do you draw the line on what is allowed?
WADA has established three criteria for getting an exemption. One, the athlete would experience significant health problems without taking the prohibited substance. Two, the therapeutic use of the substance would not produce significant enhancement of performance. Three, there is no reasonable therapeutic alternative to the use of the otherwise prohibited substance.
However, even after a TUE is granted there are limitations placed on the athlete. According to the anti-doping organization such exemptions “are granted for a specific medication with a defined dosage. They are also granted for a specific period of time and do expire.”
Meanwhile, the professional sport most associated with illegal steroid use – baseball – is still grappling with how to deal with drugs that fall into this grey area.
The bombshell Mitchell Report, released in December by former United States majority leader George Mitchell, shed light not just on steroids but on all performance-enhancing drugs used by baseball players.
The report found there are now more than 100 players who have been allowed to use either Ritalin or Adderall. This number skyrocketed in recent years and had been only around 20 players. The new total accounts for close to eight per cent of all big leaguers.
One problem confronting Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig is that it is hard to differentiate between true attention deficit disorder cases and fakes. The diagnosis of each patient is determined by how each doctor operates.
It will be hard for Selig to oust players for pretending to have the disorder without an appeal being launched against him both within baseball and in the court of public opinion.
Many people, including around 15 per cent of American youths, have attention deficit disorder. It is not an uncommon problem and Ritalin and Adderall have almost become household names. Add to this the fact that not everyone is taking the issue seriously. There are those in the sports community who laugh off the suggestion that medication like Ritalin and Adderall could soon unseat steroids as the most pressing concern.
But it is not just Ritalin and Adderall; there is a laundry list of drugs that fall into the gray area of drug use.
Modafinil is a drug used on people with a sleeping disorder known as narcolepsy. But it can also help boost a person’s memory and improve their reflexes.
Modafinil has been banned by WADA. Another example is Donepzil, a drug used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s and when used by a healthy person can help them concentrate more intensely and for longer periods of time.
These are just a couple of the many drugs designed to help sick people but can also be used to improve healthy people.
There are some who suggest such drug use should be welcomed with open arms. After all, they do not harm the body. Others say let everyone take whatever drugs they want to improve their performances. Then at least there will be an equal playing field.
With Congress holding hearings on the subject of steroid use and many of the high-profile baseball cheats being exposed it is easy to assume the battle against drugs in sports is being won.
But the truth is the real debate about drugs in sports is about to begin.