Drugs abuse in Elite Athletes: Doping in Sports

It is generally believed, especially among athletes and practicing sports people that the use of performanceenhancing drugs, besides improving performance, leads to the obtainment of easy results accompanied by glory and money gain. Unfortunately, the misuse and abuse of pharmacologically active substances have become so widespread in present day sports that the safety, the health and the longevity of far too many athletes are now compromised. More recently, athletes began the use pharmacological practices by assuming a stimulant of popular diffusion called strychnine. With the years gone by and the pharmacological progress, the use of drugs by athletes became more intense reaching a point of international phenomenon known as “doping”. The restless evolution and multiplication of doping methods and substances, the fear by athletes of harsh sports and legal sanctions as well as the inadequacy of the identification techniques for illegal substances, contribute to make a not accurate evaluation of the prevalence of the Doping phenomenon. In the course of the time, the results obtained in genetics have been used in the field of sport, creating a new form of doping, called "gene doping". The athletes may be able to use gene therapy to re-engineer their bodies for better performances. One of the primary reasons for having a list of prohibited substances and methods is to protect athlete health. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) prohibited drugs, as beta2 agonists or glucocorticosteroids and some athletes with genuine medical conditions, were denied legitimate medical therapy. The use of drugs that have the potential to improve physical performance is restricted by anti-doping regulation. Therefore, act 376/2000 establishes three distinct types of doping offenses.