ABSTRACT
As we briefly noted in Chapter 6, doping control in sport is a relatively recent phenomenon. The first compulsory Olympic drug-testing took place at the Winter Olympic Games at Grenoble in 1968, and in the thirty years since then anti-doping policy has been based almost exclusively on what might be described as a punitive or ‘law and order’ approach. How successful has that policy been in terms of controlling the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport? Is it perhaps time to re-examine some of the fundamental assumptions underlying that policy? Should the governing bodies of sport be considering alternative approaches to the problems associated with the use of performance-enhancing drugs? And can those responsible for administering anti-doping policies in sport learn anything from drug-control policies within the wider society? These are some of the central questions that are raised in this chapter.
