What is Doping?

What is Doping? Steroids Facts & Figures More Resources

Performance-enhancing drugs pose a significant risk to the health of athletes, especially young athletes. Furthermore, the use of performance-enhancing drugs is detrimental to the reputation of sports and the U.S.'s anti-doping leadership in the international arena. Despite the risks, many athletes still use these substances, and the use of performance-enhancing drugs among youth is increasing.

Doping Drugs and Methods

Substances that are prohibited by the U.S. Olympic Committee include stimulants, narcotics, anabolic agents, diuretics, and peptide hormones.

Prohibited doping methods include blood doping and pharmacological, chemical, and physical manipulation. These methods attempt to mask the use of the prohibited substances listed above. Blood doping is the administration of blood, red blood cells, artificial oxygen carriers (substances that substitute blood), and/or related red blood products to an athlete for athletic performance enhancement. Adverse effects of blood doping include allergic reactions, kidney damage, jaundice, infectious disease transmission, and blood clots.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Web site provides a list of prohibited substances and methods.

Pharmacological, chemical, and physical manipulations are attempts to alter the integrity and validity of samples used in drug testing. Examples of such methods include the use of diuretics, catheterization, inhibition of renal excretion, sample substitution, and sample tampering.

Doping Effects

Stimulants. Stimulants increase alertness and reduce fatigue. They also may increase competitiveness, hostility, and the chance of injury from accidents caused by the user's poor judgment. Addiction is also possible with the use of stimulants. Prohibited stimulants include amphetamine, caffeine, cocaine, and ephedrine.

Narcotics. Narcotic analgesics mainly function as painkillers but also may produce euphoria or psychological stimulation, false feelings of invincibility, and illusions of physical prowess. These drugs also increase the pain threshold, which can cause greater injury because an athlete may not be aware of the original injury. Use of narcotics can also lead to physical dependence. Narcotic analgesics include Demerol, Dilaudid, Percodan, and Vicodin.

Anabolic Steroids. Anabolic steroids (proper name: anabolic-androgenic steroids) are synthetic substances related to the male sex hormones (androgens). They promote the growth of skeletal muscle (anabolic effects) and the development of male sexual characteristics (androgenic effects), and also have some other effects.

Since the 1950s, some athletes have been taking anabolic steroids to build muscle and boost their athletic performance. Studies show that, over time, anabolic steroids can indeed take a heavy toll on a person's health. The abuse of oral or injectable steroids is associated with higher risks for heart attacks and strokes, and the abuse of most oral steroids is associated with increased risk for liver problems.

Anabolic steroid abuse can also cause undesirable body changes. These include breast development and genital shrinking in men, masculinization of the body in women, and acne and hair loss in both sexes. Source

Diuretics. Diuretics have important therapeutic indications for the elimination of excess fluid from body tissue in certain pathological conditions, which requires strict medical supervision. Diuretics are abused by athletes to reduce weight quickly in sports where weight categories are involved and to reduce the concentration of prohibited substances by diluting urine. Reducing weight in a short period of time has the potential for serious health side effects. Also using diuretics to deliberately cheat drug tests is ethically unacceptable. Diuretics include Bumex, Hygroton, Lasix, and Oratrol.

Peptide Hormones. Hormones, including human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG and corticotrophin (ACTH, tetracosactide), are used in sports for a variety of effects. HCG and other related compounds lead to increased rate of production of endogenous androgenic steroids. Corticotrophin has been used to increase the blood levels of endogenous corticosteroids to obtain the euphoric effect of this hormone. The use of growth hormones can cause many serious side effects, including diabetes and a fatal neurological condition called Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease.

Other Substances Subject to Certain Restrictions. Alcohol, cannabinoids (marijuana and hashish), local anesthetics, glucocorticosteroids, and beta-blockers are substances that are under certain restrictions. Local anesthetics are permitted only when medically necessary and only by intra-articular injection. Only certain types of anesthetics can be used, such as bupivacaine, lidocaine, mepivacaine, and procaine. Corticosteroids such as cortisone are naturally occurring and are used as an anti-inflammatory drug and pain reliever. The systematic use of corticosteroids may produce mood changes and euphoria, and their use, except when applied topically, demand medical control. Beta-blockers are used to control hypertension, cardiac arrhythmia, angial pectoris, and migraines. There are other effective alternative preparations available to control these conditions. Beta-blockers can be misused in such sports as archery, diving, and gymnastics.