A selection of our reader comments is provided below. We believe these statements are particularly relevant to our core question "Should performance enhancing drugs (such as steroids) be accepted in sports?"or are pro or con our site.
We posted these pro, con, and not clearly pro or con comments in the approximate ratio that we received them. (For example, if 60% of the responses received are "pro," then about 60% of the responses posted below would be "pro").
The comments are arranged in reverse chronological order within each category. We sometimes edit comments for brevity, clarity, and spelling. We may also remove comments posted when we find better comments covering the same issues or for other good reasons. To preserve confidentiality, only the writer's first name is noted, unless he/she has waived confidentiality. Respondents are generally notified when we add their comments to this section.
PRO Performance Enhancing Drugs or Pro Sports ProCon.org
CON Performance Enhancing Drugs or Con Sports ProCon.org
"Nice job on the new site. It is very comprehensive and covers way more than I could have thought about the topic." Bob, college professor of business, Dec. 30, 2008
"Great site, excellent materials and wonderful sources. Keep up the great work." Eric, founder of athleticsinthenews.blogspot.com, Dec. 30, 2008
"I
just took a quick glance at the new web sites [Sports and Big Three]
and they look great. Congratulations! Nice choice of topics -- they
should get lots of attention." Leo, Dec. 9, 2008
None found as of Dec. 10, 2008
NOT CLEARLY PRO OR CON Performance Enhancing Drugs or Not Clearly Pro or Con Sports ProCon.org
"The key thing in elite sport is to ensure that the rules are clear and that cheaters are thwarted. So long as everybody is playing by the same rules, it may matter less exactly what the rules are. Suppose that there is some drug that slightly enhances performance but which is significantly harmful to the athletes' health and the use of which can be easily detected in a urine sample. Banning such a substance can be a good idea, for the same reason that it can be a good idea to require ice hockey players to wear helmets: doing so prevents injuries without significantly reducing the entertainment value or the fairness of the competition. However, if the substance is not significantly harmful, or if its use is undetectable, or if the use of the substance greatly increases the entertainment value of the game, then it is not clear that it should be banned. Different sports and different leagues may want to make different tradeoffs between safety, entertainment value, and the risk that cheaters will gain unfair advantage. Enforcement costs also have to be taken into account." Nick Bostrom, Director of the Future of Humanity Institute, Sep. 26, 2008
