DRUGS

What is a drug? A drug is any substance that may affect a person’s emotional state, body function or behaviour. Drug taking in sport is cheating and can be harmful to health. The huge increases in the rewards of winning have meant that the temptation to take drugs has become ever greater. A performance enhancing drug, for example, could be used by athletes to boost performance artificially.

PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS There are two main categories: 1.Prohibited classes of substances 2. Prohibited methods

PROHIBITED CLASSES OF SUBSTANCES Stimilants Narcotics/analgesics Anabolic agents Diuretics Peptide, chemical and physical manipulation

Stimulants eg. amphetamines, ephedrine, cocaine, nicotine and caffeine reduce the feelings of fatigue Increase alertness and aggression Prevent tiredness and delay lactic acid build up Side effects – insomnia, irritability, irregular heartbeat, high BP

Narcotic analgesics Eg. heroin, methadone, pethidine, morphine Drugs act by depressing the CNS reducing pain raise an athletes pain threshold so that competition can continue while recovering from injury. This can make the underlying issue worse and even cause permanent damage.ide effects – loss of concentration, balance and co- ordination

Anabolic steroids Eg. testosterone, stanozonol, nandrolone Most common drug to enhance performance build up muscular mass, strength power and develop bone growth Allows athlete to train harder Mimics human testosterone Side effects – agression, growth of facial hair, voice deepening, mood swings, heart problems, high BP, liver disease, infertility in women

Diuretics Increase kidney function and amount of urine produced – increase elimination of fluids and therefore weight loss. used in sports where weight is important. Side effects – dehydration, dizziness, muscle cramps, headaches, nausea and kidney problems.

Peptide, chemical and physical manipulation These drugs increase muscle growth, assist recovery and can increase the number of rbc’s Eg synthetically produced human growth hormone (hGH), EPO.

Prohibited methods Blood doping is a banned process When altitude training mber of red blood cells increases. Blood high in rbc’s can be extracted and stored ready for major competition.

Social drugs Social drugs such as tobacco and alcohol have harmful effects on the body but are widely used. Smoking decreases lung capacity, increases the risk of developing cancer (esp lung and throat), reduces the amount to oxygen the blood can carry and increases the risk of heart disease. Alcohol can have a detrimental effect on sports performance. However some sports actually ban alcohol because it is a depressant and calms nerves eg. modern pentathlon, fencing and shooting.