The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) reached an agreement with INTERPOL to faciliate international police cooperation in its politicized and moralistic campaign against the use of anabolic steroids for non-medical purposes (e.g. motivated by increased muscle size, improved strength, enhanced athletic performance and greater physical attractiveness). WADA has spearheaded the internationalization of steroid law with UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport with a stated objective of criminalizing personal non-medical steroid use by apply the force of international law behind the anti-doping WADA code.
Now, WADA has garnered the support of INTERPOL, the world’s largest police force, to act as a sort of international moral police upholding the steroids-are-evil morality, stamping out cheaters and protecting the children (“WADA strengthens ties with law enforcement agencies,” November 24).
“We’ve got to the point of the implementations of the arrangements with Interpol to help in the international fight we are endeavouring to undertake,” WADA president John Fahey told reporters. “This is a significant step forward.
“As demonstrated by the recent high profile doping cases and investigations, government action and the sharing of information between law enforcement agencies and anti-doping organisations can be crucial in exposing anti-doping rule violations that would not have been detected through testing.
“Law enforcement and government agencies possess investigative powers to attack the source and supply of illegal substances which sport does not have.”
One of the biggest problems caused by using the WADA code as the basis for international law is the fact that the overwhelming majority of non-medical steroid users are NOT athletes. So, instead of addressing the problem of doping in sports, it targets consenting adult non-athletes who have no relation to competitive sports.
While it is understandable for WADA to administer punitive measures against athletes that “cheat,” it is an incredible injustice to criminalize use by responsible, otherwise law-abiding adults who use anabolic steroids simply as a tool to increase their muscle mass, reduce bodyfat, and/or enhance physical attractiveness (“A league of their own, too: motivational and age of onset comparisons between American male and female AAS users,” September 17).
Most NMAAS users did not initiate use during adolescence nor was their use motivated by athletics. The typical male and female user were Caucasian, highly-educated (female users evidenced a slightly higher prevalence of advanced degrees), gainfully employed professionals approximately 30 years of age, who were earning an above-average income, were not active in organized sports, and whose use was motivated by increases in skeletal muscle mass, strength, and physical attractiveness.
The incorporation of the WADA anti-doping into national steroid law legislation perpetuates a moral agenda that is really not applicable for non-athletes who use steroids. As we’ve seen in various steroid-related prosecutions, non-athletes will continue to be penalized as a result of laws that criminalize anabolic steroid use while doping among competitive athletes continues unfettered in sports.
The use of anabolic steroids to increase muscle size and improve physical appearance has been deemed immoral. The ratification of UNESCO Convention Against Doping, WADA’s cooperation with INTERPOL, and the internationalization of steroid law are designed to enforce a hegemonic morality that steroid use is bad for everyone.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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