Drug cheats should be jailed??

Sad news that Brahim Boulami (the Moroccan athlete who recently set in Zurich an apparent World Record for the 3000m Steeplechase) looks likely to be confirmed as a drug cheat. But this raises a question in my mind: is the risk of being caught, and the associated penalties, sufficient to deter athletes from taking performance enhancing drugs? If not, should more serious penalties - eg, imprisonment in serious cases - be considered? It seems to me that we are talking about professional athletes, who stand to make substantial financial gains from their performances. Taking performance enhancing drugs is tantamount to fraud. Society has no difficulty in imprisoning fraudsters who - for example - steal from their employers. So why not athletes? Any views on this?

Comments

  • I totaly agree with you Daniel.
  • GuyGuy ✭✭✭
    It seems to me arguable that they could be imprisoned under existing legislation, for obtaining property by deception. If someone enters a race knowing that it is intended to be for "clean" athletes, he is impliedly representing that he is clean. If in fact he isn't, and wins some prize money as a result, he has obtained someone else's property by reason of his deception.

    As to whether they should be, I don't see any moral difference between someone stealing my credit card and pretending to be me so as to spend my money; and someone pretending to be a clean athlete so as to win prize money.
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