Drugs in sport

[xelasnave]

Recent news tells me there is a problem with drugs in sport testing and follow.
However before that I could not understand why when a substance is found to be found "positive" no criminal action follows but who ever may only miss a training session or two... however the police charged with the application of the law are some times sidelined where spot is involved.
What a message to send our kids.... get caught with drugs in your systen and you will miss a match or some training but no worries the police will not be involved.
In our world of do it now.. how come all sports stars are not tested at the end of and at the start of each event..not enough money to employ full time testers???? Racehorses yes but humans no??? given the problem real or percived why is it tests are not carried out on each player etc before and after each event? why are results not followed up by way of criminal proceedures given that the test holds evidence that would see a conviction.
If sport is a business and sports people are professional why can we not test before and after each event..the money is there but where is the will.
Hold up sports people as heros no problem but get real with the drug issue.. cant science test at each event etc rather than random. It seems a funny thing that tests are not routine for every competitiion ... where is the problem. This random stuff will not work but only raise more questions than answered. Imagine each Saturday every footy player must prove to be ok... why not are we so backward we can not figure a way.
alex

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I'm afraid that I don't, in general, hold any sports people in particularly high esteem. Many get paid extremely good money in a very short period of time (many football players would earn more in a 10 year career than I will in a lifetime and this is perhaps one of the reasons they get into drugs). If they get caught "breaking the rules", throw them out and make them get a "real job". They should realise they get paid bickies and so they should be more or less beyond reproach. The same laws should apply to them as anyone else and the legal system should treat them as such.

As for heroes? Anyone who does their job can never be considered a hero. A fireman who runs into a burning building to save someone is NOT a hero. Someone walking down the street who runs into the same building IS a hero (or maybe foolish?). Someone who kicks a piece of leather between two big sticks and gets it in the middle only a couple of seconds before everyone is about to go home for tea and as a result their friends have kicked this same piece of leather between the sticks more times than the other group is NOT a hero...if they believe they are (and the problem is that I think they do) they are better described as a wanker.

[xelasnave]

OneofOne I can't say there is anything I disagree with in what you say
I just do not undersatnd why drug testing is random when it should be a matter of routine. Is it a money problem? Is it a matter of such a system of random testing pays lip service to "no drugs in sport" but there is in fact a different reality.
And I must say I particularly agree with you on the strange way we find our heros.. excellent input
alex

[Dujon]

Alex, yes, I believe it is a money problem - plus of course if random testing takes place then (theoretically) no one knows when or if they will be tested. Some appear to flout the rules and hope that the numbers will fall in their favour.

Please don't forget that many substances banned within sporting circles are not banned substances for the general populace. Many of those are perfectly legitimate medical treatments prescribed every day for people with problems.

When it comes to illegal drugs (grass, ice, coke, es and a whole host of other 'stuff') then that's a different matter. As best I can gather from scant reading most of these are not performance enhancing and are in fact quite the opposite.

To be honest I think that alcohol mixed with sport seems to be more of a problem overall than other matters when it comes to the public's perception of sports men and women. Of course it's just a few who spoil it for the rest. Years ago one of Penrith Rugby League Club's first graders lived with me for a year or so. A nicer, well behaved, tee-total and non-smoking lad you'd never find. He was a credit to his sport and to himself. After games he'd come home and grab a couple of packets of frozen peas that we kept in the freezer for the purpose and bung them onto his wrist, knee, ankle or whatever else was in trouble.

[ving (David)]

alex, these sports stars are not using speed to make them run faster... we are talking about performance enhancing drugs not hallucinogenics. thats a completely different kettle of fish.

I think we should have a "drug olympics" myself.

as for heros, I amnot into them one bit. I am not a hero worshipper... but this is about drugs in sports anyhow.

i recon there is a place for sporting events where the participants can take any performance enhancing drug they like, but they should stay clear of "clean" events.

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

I guess the randomness of testing is sort of like red light cameras. You are coming up to a light (sporting event) and you know if you miss it, you will be even later (won't win the event). If you run the light (take the drug) you may not get snapped (drug tested) and you decide to pick up speed and go through when you should have stopped (take the drug). Some time later you get a ticket (they take a sample after the event because you did so well).

I don't know who makes the decision of who to test, but in something like the Olympics I would hope they would test everyone who got a medal, maybe they do. In more conventional sports, like football, I guess they just pull your name out of a hat? Maybe they make it random because they just "don't want to know" just how widespread it is! And they just hope it will go away? Which is pretty normal human behaviour, don't we all just ignore something and hope it will just go away.

[norm]

Hi Alex,

In principal I agree where your coming from. But the logistics to administer something like this would be a nightmare, not to mention the costs. I just can't imagine every footy team being tested week in week out. It would take them more than a week to analyse the samples and to expediate the process will either cost a motza or worst be a lawyers dream. The legal system would find loopholes in the testing process and argue the unfairness of the whole setup, etc.

I wouldn't know any lab in OZ that could handle 100's of samples, return the results in a short turnaround. If the results can't be acheived before the next game, then it defeats the purpose.