Accepted Performance Enhancements vs. Steroids

This is a bit off topic, but interesting enough given the implications of change in our society…specifically, on athletes in our society. In the wake of the Mitchell Report condemning scores of Major League baseball players, Malcolm Gladwell (author of Blink and The Tipping Point) points out the lack of logical distinguishing criteria used to rule some things (like steroid use) as illicit cheating while openly permitting other treatments and aids that for one reason or another society views in a better light. As Gladwell writes:

“I’m not advocating that steriods be legalized. In fact, I think that’s probably a terrible idea. I’m simply puzzled. The professional sports establishment is in the midst of a major witchhunt against alleged users of performance enhancing drugs. But no one–so far as I can tell– has articulated a coherent explanation for what should be banned and why.”

He goes on to use the example of Lasik surgery that could correct a batter’s vision, for example, by leaps and bounds. Sure, the batter could experience the same boost with contacts, but as any of us who wear contacts daily will tell you: it’s not the same advantage. Gladwell again:

“[I]t is perfectly legal for an athlete to get painkillers after an injury, so he can continue playing (and, I would point out, risk further injury.) It is not legal for that athlete to take Human Growth Hormone, in order to speed his recovery from that same injury. Again, why? What is the distinction?”

With advances in medicine, surgical technology, pharmaceuticals, prosthetics, and our understaning of the body’s healing processes (and how to manipulate them), we seem to drift further and further into uncomfortable territory between helping our athletes achieve their full and healthy potential and pushing the definition of that potential far beyond the natural limits. Where do we draw the line? Is this an area in which, while relishing Barry Bonds’ home runs or football players who return from weekly punishment healthy and recovered in time for the next game, we are happy to slide down a slippery slope, making symbolic judgments to keep our playing fields “clean?”

Image used under a Creative Commons license from Flicker user Mike Licht.