High Time To Make Some Rules

Given the difficulty—or impossibility—of finding a rational definition for dope, the alternative to Professor Ariens' suggestion of adopting a hands-off policy seems to be settling on a practical, if arbitrary, definition, as has been done by horse racing. In the process you let the logical chips fall where they may. Thus while both aspirin and Novocain are drugs, a sporting body may say, in a regulatory way: "Aspirin—yes (it is common, cheap, universally available, mild), but Novocain—no (it is more potent, more difficult to obtain and administer)." Such a ruling is indisputably authoritarian, but so, fundamentally, is the restriction requiring that a football team have only 11 men on the field at the same time. It amounts to simply saying this is one rule of the game—and if you play, you play by the rules.

Such an approach has been used by certain athletic bodies—the International Olympic Committee, for one—which have tried to control drug usage. The IOC announced, in essence, that though there were a lot of drugs being used, if in the 1968 Games you were caught using alcohol (in excess), amphetamines, ephedrine, cocaine, vasodilators, opiates, certain analgesics or hashish, you would be regarded as a cheat and punished. That was the rule.

Horse racing also has openly recognized another sporting phenomenon that others often attempt to ignore. To put it politely, it is in the nature of competitors to seek whatever advantage they can get. To put it bluntly, the compulsion to cheat is strong in athletes. The rules of the artificial world of sport correspond to the physical laws of the real world—they delineate the areas within which we can perform. The desire to circumvent these restrictions is a sort of Faustian impulse that in many ways can heighten sporting suspense. Take, as an obvious example, the rolling start in track. This is an attempt to be on the move a split second before the gun is fired and is an illegal technique. However, it is one which all sprinters know, many of them because they have been taught to roll by their coaches. It is the responsibility of the starter to catch the rolling sprinter and penalize him. The duel between the runner and rule enforcer can be a high moment in a track meet. However, unless the starter wins the argument most of the time, there is no suspense—and no sport.

So it is, say racing officials, with drugs. It is not enough to say thou shalt not dope. No matter what is said, the assumption is that veterinarians, trainers, owners, jockeys and hangers-on are going to try now and then to drug horses. Therefore, if drugging is regarded as a serious offense, there must be an apparatus for detecting cheaters, a code by which they will be punished.

All racing commissions have such an apparatus and code, though the efficiency, vigor and sincerity of enforcement varies from place to place. Also, nobody claims that the methods currently used are foolproof, that all drugged horses are discovered or that all drug givers are punished. However, the fact remains that a serious effort toward this end is made. Furthermore, with a few exceptions, the trend in American racing is to improve the detection system and to tighten drug restrictions.

By contrast, not a single major U.S. sporting organization, amateur or professional, governing human competitors has specific anti-doping regulations with an enforcement apparatus. In the way of negative examples, the following are among the statements or documents of some big U.S. sports regarding their drug policies.

? Warren Giles, president of the National Baseball League, says that there is nothing in the rules about prohibition of drug use. "Nothing has ever come to my attention that would require a special ruling. It never has come up, and I don't think it ever will." (He would do well to check the locker rooms of a few of his teams before a game and watch who swallows what.)

?"The American League has no rules regarding pep pills, painkillers, etc. Baseball players don't use those types of things," says the league's executive assistant, Bob Holbrook.

?Professional football: "We have rules on gambling, etc., but none on medical matters," says NFL-AFL Publicity Director Don Weiss. "These are left to the club physicians and the club trainers in both leagues."

?Says the American Basketball Association: "A player should not do anything which is detrimental to the best interests of the club, of the ABA or of pro sports. He must always remain in good condition."