Performance-Ehancing and Recreational Drug Use in Sports

By Will Brown Contributor Updated: 21 April 2024

Will Brown Contributor

William Brown is a Content Writer with strong expertise in US and global gambling industry trends. Having covered the local sports betting market since the repeal of PASPA in 2018, William approaches his gambling guides with passion and diligence. He is a keen player of online slots, blackjack, and a regular sports bettor.

See Full Bio

Recreational and Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Sports

In most major sporting codes around the world, there are strict rules that restrict drug use in sports. Whether athletes are looking to improve their performance or recovery with performance-enhancing substances or use recreational drugs in their free time, being caught with drugs in their systems can result in severe penalties. In this guide, we’ve discussed why drugs are used by athletes for different reasons and how sporting bodies combat the use of illicit substances.

Intro to Doping in Sports

Doping refers to the use of banned substances by athletes and is considered a serious offense. To get this guide started, we’ve explained what performance-enhancing drugs are and their impacts on athletes. These are distinguished from recreational drugs, which are also restricted. It’s important to understand the ethical dilemmas that arise from doping in sports, so we’ve discussed this as well as the anti-doping tests that are undertaken to limit the activity. Finally, we’ve explored the Enhanced Games, an upcoming competition that will not drug-test athletes.

• 💊 Performance-Enhancing Drugs Explained
• 🏋🏻 Recreational Drugs in Sports
• ⚖️ Ethical Dilemmas of Drugs in Sports
• 🧪 Anti-Doping Testing
• 🏆 About the Enhanced Games

What Are Performance Enhancing Drugs?

Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are illegal substances that are considered to have the ability to improve an athlete’s competitive edge. These may increase strength, endurance, and speed, or boost recovery times. While some of these substances may be legal outside of the context of sports, their role in creating unfair advantages has them outlawed by anti-doping agencies.

Anabolic steroids are among the most commonly cited banned PEDs. These are synthetic versions of testosterone that promote muscle growth and enhance recovery, so are favored in strength-based sports. Human growth hormones (HGH) are other synthetic substances that stimulate cell growth and repair, so are favored in endurance sports.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone that increases oxygen delivery by stimulating the creation of red blood cells, while beta-2 agonists relax airway muscles to improve oxygen intake. Both have performance benefits in endurance sports such as running and cycling. Stimulants such as amphetamines may also be used for increasing wakefulness and reaction times.

The Health Risks of PEDs

While it may seem that these performance-enhancing drugs may only benefit performance, there are significant physiological and psychological health risks involved with many of them. Anabolic steroids can disrupt hormones and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, while HGH has been found to increase the risk of some cancers and damage organs.

As EPO can thicken the blood, this can increase the risks of strokes and heart attacks, while stimulants can lead to cardiovascular issues. Overuse of many of these substances can also result in sleep disorders, heightened aggression, drug dependence, and mood disorders, which can all have detrimental effects on athletes’ mental health.

Recreational Drugs and Athletes

Unlike PEDs, recreational drug use in sports is not typically associated with performance. Rather, athletes may use them for recreation or to cope with other psychological issues. Common recreational drugs include cocaine, cannabis, opioids, and amphetamines. These tend to be outlawed due to widespread illegality, impaired judgment, and the potential for addiction.

The use of these substances can impair performances, which undermines the significant investments in time and money that teams may place in athletes. Recreational drug abuse in sports is also taken seriously because of societal stigmas that could reflect poorly on athletes, teams, and sporting bodies.

The Impacts of Recreational Drugs on Athletic Performance

There are varying impacts of recreational drugs on athletic performance that relate to the individual substance, the user, and the level of abuse. For example, as cannabis legalization slowly sweeps across the globe, some are advocating its anti-inflammatory and stress-relieving medicinal use. In the US, the Big Four sports leagues have removed cannabis from its banned substances list.

For drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines, major sporting codes continue to take a hardline approach against its use. While amphetamines can improve concentration, motivation, and reduce fatigue, their misuse can result in serious health problems. Opioids, on the other hand, are considered to only have adverse impacts on performance for most sports.

Fairness and the Ethical Dilemmas of Drug Use

One of the largest ethical concerns surrounding doping in sports is its opposition to what is widely called “the spirit of sport”. This refers to the ideal version of sporting competitions, which should be fair, healthy, legal, respectful, and inspiring. There is also a tendency to admire hard work and commitment to winning.

Doping breaks many of the tenets of the spirit of sport by creating an uneven playing field and offering athletes unnatural shortcuts to supremacy. Of course, the health impacts on athletes can also be considered to be unjustifiable, with doping wins often achieved at a tangible cost to athlete’s health.

By its very nature, doping aims to manipulate an athlete’s biological chemistry and physiology to create disingenuous outcomes, which could result in setting unrealistic benchmarks for human performance. Many consider PEDs to be the antithesis of the purist values that athletes should hold and are nothing short of cheating.

If sporting bodies do not take a hardline against the activity, this can also erode trust in the institutions and they will lose integrity. Outside of ethical concerns, this can result in considerable financial and sponsorship losses. As the following section shares, this has happened in the past.

High-Profile Cases of Doping

There are several instances whereby athletes have faced major repercussions after being found to be doping. The most high-profile example is that of cyclist Lance Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France who was uncovered to be an extensive user of performance-enhancing drugs such as EPO and testosterone.

While maintaining his innocence for years, his behavior was uncovered by the US Anti-Doping Agency in 2012, resulting in a lifetime ban from professional cycling and the revocation of his Tour de France titles. He also lost major sponsorship deals and was sued by former sponsors, reaching a $5 million settlement.

Another high-profile case involved tennis player Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion. In 2016, she faced a 15-month suspension after being found with an anti-ischemic drug in her system, which has been found to boost cardiovascular health. Sharapova claimed ignorance, stating that she had been prescribed the drug before it was banned. She lost millions of dollars in contracts as a result.

The sporting world was also rocked by the Russian Olympic doping scandal in 2014 after a Russian whistleblower revealed that a sophisticated state-sponsored doping scheme was employed to boost athletes’ performances. This resulted in Russia’s ban from the 2018 Winter Olympics and reforms to doping testing.

Anti-Doping Testing

The leader of the global effort to combat sports and drug use is the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which is in charge of determining the restricted substances on its Prohibited Drugs List. The agency also sets the standards on how athletes are tested and the regularity of tests.

The anti-doping test process involves taking blood and urine samples from athletes which undergo stringent analysis to check for traces of prohibited substances. The process is highly secure and regulated to ensure accuracy and reduce the risk of tampering. Tests can be random to further thwart manipulation or depend on athlete’s competition schedules.

If an athlete tests positive for prohibited substances, they could face further testing rounds or be subjected to disciplinary actions. This could include suspensions, fines, and even bans. Each case is judged individually according to the severity of the offense, and further investigations may be called if a wider conspiracy is suspected.

The Anti-Doping Agency also endeavors to educate the population about drugs and athletes to reduce the prevalence of doping practices. Many countries have their own agencies that interpret the World Anti-Doping Code in local sports and for athletes competing in international competitions.

The Enhanced Games: A Test-Free Olympics

In 2023, Australian businessman Aron D’Souza made global headlines when he announced his intention to hold the Enhanced Games, an international sporting event that won’t subject athletes to drug testing. The games are intended to follow a similar model to the Olympics and are expected to take place in 2025.

While athletes won’t be required to take performance-enhancing drugs, many athletes and sporting organizations have condemned the games, citing the extreme health risks for participants. This hasn’t stopped it from earning financial support though, with billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel one of many high-profile investors.

The World Athletics president Stephen Coe has responded by saying that those who compete would be banned from regulated sports for a long time. It’s not yet known whether US sports betting sites will offer odds on the games, but it’s clear that there is great curiosity among audiences about their results and impact on the sporting world.