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The participation of sports physicians in the "doping" of athletes with banned drugs can be documented as far back as the 1890s. Concern about the ethics and safety of doping elite athletes appeared during the 1920s and 1930s as sport became an increasingly important form of popular culture. While organized medicine has opposed doping as a matter of policy at least since the 1950s, sports physicians have never adequately confronted the conflicts of interest that arise when they choose to work with elite athletes whose first priority is performance rather than with healing in the traditional sense. Confronted with the demands of their athlete-clients, sports physicians have divided into two factions regarding the wisdom and propriety of administering doping drugs to athletes. While most physicians are, in all likelihood, unwilling to violate laws, regulations, and medical standards by doping athletes, a significant minority of doctors has used one or more arguments to justify doping athletes: drugs are necessary to compete effectively; athletes should be free to medicate themselves as they please; drugs do not differ essentially from other performance-enhancing techniques or equipment; and medically supervised doping is safer than self-medication by athletes. Physicians can also rationalize doping as an occupational requirement of some professional athletes. In summary, physicians have played a significant, and largely unacknowledged, role in the doping of many elite athletes over the past 50 years.

This paper examines current policies towards drug use in sport to evaluate their appropriateness. The focus is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA's) attitudes and policies towards athletes' use of recreational drugs. Since recreational drugs such as marijuana are not performance-enhancing, one of the most frequently used arguments to justify doping controls -that those involved in drug use derive an unfair advantage over other competitors -cannot be used to justify controls on the use of such drugs. Given this, it is suggested that the attempt to control the use of marijuana within a sporting context is best understood in terms of the growing concern about drug 'abuse' within the wider society. The paper further suggests that the WADA has used the 'spirit of sport' argument to reach beyond traditionally accepted sporting concerns. In this regard, WADA is using anti-doping regulations to police personal lifestyle and social activities that are unrelated to sporting performance. On this basis, it is concluded that WADA's focus and resources should return to enforcing sporting values related to doping rather than policing athletes' lifestyles, and it is therefore suggested that the ban on marijuana and similar recreational drugs should be lifted.