Use of drugs in Sports - Dissertation Example

Use of Drugs in Sports of Introduction Drug abuse issues have been integral to the sporting fraternity sincehistorical times. Specifically, the athletics disciplines have reported the most cases of drug-related problems as sportsmen seek to improve their performance and to win medals and titles. Consequent to the drive and greed to perform better and win, athletes have only created more problems for themselves, nations and sports governing bodies. Therefore, recent cases of drug use by sportsmen such as renowned cyclist Lance Armstrong are not new phenomena. In fact, even athletes in ancient Roman and Greek civilisations used drugs to enhance their performances. In these ancient times, athletes used herbs and mushrooms to improve their performance. Later, athletes would use opium and caffeine among other performance-enhancing substances (Bahrke, 2002). This project will be about the effectiveness of integrating sport in community-based programs and schemes used to tackle drug/substance abuse and drug-related crimes among the youth. To achieve this goal, the study will seek to achieve several minor aims as listed below. Research Aims (I) To establish the current nature, type, extent and frequency of doping in sports for the purpose of countering the practice. (II) To explore the psychological, physical, social, economic, health and attitude effects of drug and substance abuse by sportsmen across sporting disciplines (III) To highlight the roles of anti-doping agencies such as the USADA and the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping by sportsmen Literature Review A quick review of print and electronic literatures reveals that doping has been an integral and controversial issue for the sports fraternity since historical times. In most literatures on doping in sports, the types of drugs used and their effects on individual sportsmen, sportswomen, their families, their nations, their fans and the sporting fraternity have been given quite a wide coverage. This kind of coverage emphasizes the importance of the fight against doping in sports. Besides, seeking to ensure a level and fair playing field for sportsmen and women, the fight against doping has been portrayed in literatures as seeking to eliminate and reduce the negative effects of doping on health, well being and the image of sports (Berryman, 1992). Literatures have also covered the interventions designed and impended to curtail doping problems in sports. For example, as a consequent of drug use by athletes and the subsequent health effects and deaths, sports governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set up medical and testing commissions to test athletes for signs of illicit substances and ban the use of these drugs and other performance enhancing substances. Although these testing started in a small scale in the 1968 Mexico Olympics, it would be introduced in a full-scale at the Olympic Games in Munich four years later (Wayne, 2000). Following the banning of substances such as anabolic steroids, many sportsmen were disqualified in the years that followed 1975 and 1983 during which caffeine and testosterone were also banned (Lenehan, 2003). Ultimately, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was formed in Switzerland not only to promote the fight against drug use in sports but also to coordinate the campaigns against such substances. Dominic Malcolm and Ivan Waddington are among the renowned authors who have covered the concept of drugs and/in sports and the possibility of using sports to fight drug problems and drug-related crimes among the youth. For instance, in an article in the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, volume 38 No. 3 entitled “Sport as a Drug and Drugs in Sport, Waddington emphasizes the issue in which drug-users and non-drug users in a community have a relationship in which the former group is considered to have behaviours not conforming to accepted standards (Dunning & Waddington, 2003). Hence, sportsmen such as bodybuilders who are often associated with drug use are considered outsiders (Dunning & Waddington, 2003). That is, society associates sportsmen such as bodybuilders with drug/steroid abusers. Waddington and Malcolm thus feel that sports has often been associated with drugs and such an association could be exploited to help curb drug use by sportsmen and the youth who look up to sportsmen and women as role models. Rationale and Problem Statement The sporting world, specifically the cycling fraternity is yet to recover from the news that Lance Armstrong surrendered the fight against dope and all the titles he has won to the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Regrettably, Armstrong will be stripped of all his seven Tour de France titles after the sports icon failed to keep the fight against the drug charges that have tarnished his sporting life and legacy (The Washington Post, 2012). In fact, the USADA is set to ban Armstrong for life for his use of performance-enhancing drugs by which he won the most prestigious cycling race between 1999 and 2005. Although he initially denied the charges leveled against him by the USADA, Armstrong later decided to surrender his lawsuit against USADA after the court dismissed the said case in which he accused the agency for unconstitutional witch-hunt but withdrew after his former teammates gave information that he (Armstrong) had in deed used illegal performance-enhancing drugs (The Washington Post, 2012). While announcing his decision to surrender the fight, Armstrong promised to continue fighting for the vulnerable and underserved communities and individuals affected by cancer. Among the substances that USADA claims Armstrong used include the blood-booster EPO, steroids and blood transfusions, which he begun undergoing as early as 1996. There are several reasons for which this project will be undertaken. In fact, the Armstrong case is just one of the many instances in which sports’ image, sportsmen’s and sportswomen’s careers, lives and professions have been jeopardized by the use of illegal drugs and other banned substances (The Washington Post, 2012). First, the number of drug-related problems that the world in general and sportsmen in particular face keeps rising by the day. The problems related to steroid use and the abuse of other banned substances have resulted in numerous psychological, physical, sociological and legal problems for individual sportsmen, governments and entire countries whose reputation is tattered by such derogatory reports of drug use by their sportsmen (Duncan, 2004). Ironically, sportsmen are considered good ambassadors for their sports and countries and role models for others, especially the youth. Further, the use of steroids and other illegal substances by sportsmen affect their performance, morale and attitude. Although anabolic steroid use by sportsmen causes them a lot of social problems, these problems are not limited to the sportsmen but also touch on the larger society (Yesalis, 2000). For instance, steroid use has been reported to cause impotency thus interfering with relationships (Orwoll, 2009). Because of the social, physical, legal, financial, psychological and performance problems caused by the use of steroid and other banned substances by sportsmen, more research should be done on the use of these substances, their effects and the possible and most effective interventions to these problems (Lumpkin et al., 2011). Methodology In this study, the systematic search/review approach to research will be applied. Thus, the methodology will focus on reviewing past and current literatures and research findings/data on drug and substance abuse by sportsmen to enhance their performance. In this process, the relevant literatures will be identified, selected, appraised and synthesised to give the highest quality evidence on the objectives, issues and questions at hand. Although commonly used in medicine-related studies, systematic review will be quite effective and appropriate for researching drug and banned substance use by sportsmen/women since this practice has several social, medical and health implications (Moher et al., 2007). The appropriateness of the systematic review in this study is supported by the fact that a lot of information about drug use by sportsmen has been collected, published and stored for reference. That steroid and illegal substance abuse by sportsmen has implications on public health, occupational therapy, physical therapy, sociology, business, psychology, educational research and nursing also makes systematic search rather appropriate for this study. The objectives that this method will help achieve include the provision of an extensive and exhaustive summary of all the relevant literatures on banned substance abuse by sportsmen (Moher et al., 2007). To achieve this goal, it will be of the essence to do a methodical review of the literatures relevant to the research question, including databases, websites, books and journals (Moher et al., 2007). To find the right materials, the titles of the identified articles will be compared with the pre-determined key terms and criterion for literature eligibility and relevance. Notably, there are eight core steps that will be followed in this research methodology. These include the definition of the review issues, objectives and questions and the development of the design or criterion for including literatures (Moher et al., 2007). Second, the literatures to be used will be selected and the relevant data to be used identified. Third, the risks of bias during the search will be identified and the information selected in the literatures analysed (Savoie et al., 2003). Finally, any reporting biases will be addressed and the results presented, interpreted and conclusions made. Conclusion Doping by sportsmen and sportswomen is one of the ethical and legal issues that the sporting fraternity grapples with everyday in its endeavours to create a good image for sports, ensure level playing field and to reduce and/or eliminate the negative effects of doping. At the forefront in the fight against doping in sports are anti-doping agencies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the USADA among others. To allow for a better understanding of the causes, effects and interventions that could work best on doping in sports, more researches should target the current and ever changing types, extent and frequency of drug and substance abuse by sportsmen and sportswomen. It is these issues that this research seeks to explore. References Bahrke, M. S. (2002). Performance-enhancing substances in sport and exercise. California: Human Kinetics. Berryman, J. W. (1992). Sport and exercise science: essays in the history of sports medicine. Illinois: University of Illinois Press. Duncan, J. (2004). Sport in American culture: From Ali to X-Games. Boston: ABC-CLIO. Dunning, E., and Waddington, I. (2003). “Sport as a Drug and Drugs in Sport.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 38(3): 351 - 368. Retrieved on October 17, 2012 from http://www.arasite.org/kcdunning.html Lenehan, P. (2003). Anabolic steroids: and other performance-enhancing drugs. New York: Taylor & Francis. Lumpkin, A., Stoll, S. K, and Beller, J. M. (2011). Practical ethics in sport management. Michigan: McFarland. Moher, D., Tetzlaff, J., Tricco, A. C., Sampson, M., and Altman, D. G. (2007). Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews. PLoS Medicine 4 (3): 78. Orwoll, E. S., Bilezikian, J. P., and Vanderschueren, D. (2009). Osteoporosis in men: the effects of gender on skeletal health. Massachusetts: Academic Press. Savoie, I., Helmer, D., Green, C. J., and Kazanjian, A. (2003). Beyond Medline: Reducing Bias through Extended Systematic Review Search. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care 19 (1): 168. The Washington Post. (2012). “Lance Armstrong Will Be Banned from Cycling by USADA After Saying He Wont Fight Doping Charges.” Retrieved October 14, 2012 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/othersports/lance-armstrong-faces-lifetime-ban-from-usada-tour-de-france-titles-in-jeopardy/2012/08/24/053a2320-ed98-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html Wayne, W. (2000). Doping in elite sport: the politics of drugs in the Olympic movement: the politics of drugs in the Olympic movement. Human Kinetics. Yesalis, C. (2000). Anabolic steroids in sport and exercise. California: Human Kinetics. Read More