> Since everyone has to obey artificial rules, there's no harm in making the rules prevent damage to the players. You're begging the question here. Many of th

> Since everyone has to obey artificial rules, there's no harm in making the rules prevent damage to the players. You're begging the question here. Many of these drugs are overwhelmingly beneficial -- e.g. Human Growth Hormone. Prohibiting it makes about as much sense as prohibiting surgery; it's used to promote healing of injuries. If they cared about damage to players, its use would be encouraged. Reducing recovery time means they are playing and making money for the sport rather than laid up for months and just cashing checks. I would argue you have a moral duty to yourself to use any and all means to get better, and anyone who argues you should remain injured longer has no moral basis to stand on. Baseball's rules are simply about image in this "drug war" climate. It's extremely hypocritical; Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds likely made a fortune for the league with all the excitement about breaking home run records. It's also uncomfortably Übermensch-ish. If you disallow this type of enhancement, you're leaving it up to whoever was born with favorable genetics. It's not even about who trains the hardest -- someone with better genetics can do less work and get better results than someone else who works his tail off. Additionally, there is a wide range of performance-enhancing substances, some of which are well-studied and can be safely taken under medical supervision. However, the well-known ones are typically the ones they test for and prohibit, which drives the practice underground and spurs development of experimental new substances of dubious safety. And realistically, in order to compete in many sports today, you need both the genetics and the pharmaceutical enhancement. Thus the biggest threat to athletes' physical health is the prohibition of well-understood substances and the legal pressure on doctors which makes it difficult for an athlete to get the proper medical supervision. The system simply does not reward people who either lack superior genetics or the willingness to use these substances.