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July 6, 2008 8:03:53 AM CDT

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Legalize Steroids, Save Sports

Posted Oct 12, 07 12:20 PM CDT in US,  Science & Health,  Arts & Living,  Sports    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – Nearly everyone has used drugs to improve performance in some aspect of life—caffeine to work late, sleeping pills to guarantee rest, medicine to clear up a cold—so it is nonsensical to prevent athletes from doing the same, argues Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. Her answer to the burgeoning steroid scandals in sports is to legalize the substances and leave it up to athletes to police themselves.

Jenkins allows for two counterarguments to her idea: It sets a bad example for kids, and it punishes athletes who want to compete naturally. But we can't child-proof society, she says, and there's nothing natural about what athletes do to their bodies even without drugs. Perhaps no system at all is better than a broken one, she contends.

Source Washington Post

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