ABSTRACT
Revisiting the findings of three recent research projects on the market for doping products in Italy, Belgium, France, and Germany, this chapter discusses two startling peculiarities of the latter market, namely, (1) the non-criminal background of the suppliers, and particularly the repeated involvement of (academic) physicians in doping practices; and (2) the persistent protection offered by state agencies, sport bodies, and their representatives to doping practices in elite sport. It further argues that these peculiarities imply, on one hand, a veritable policy conundrum, given the persistent complicity of the very bodies that were supposed to suppress doping practices in elite sports. On the other hand, the findings also show the limited, but effective role that criminal law enforcement can play in revealing both the doping practices as well as their ‘protections’, given athletes’ as well as their suppliers’ and protectors’ susceptibility to criminal law deterrent measures.
