That doping should be permitted in all sports

Thank you con for that excellent speech. Rebuttal R1: 'Health' If we examine the study that we have been linked to[1], we find that it in fact is not a study that (as Con would claim) shows a widespread prevalence of doping in sports, it is in fact a study studying methods for finding out the prevalence of doping in sport- 'a review of numbers and methods' So here's the conclusion that Con has given us. (As I understand it). 'If doping is legalized then everyone would do it, leading to unrestricted use etc etc'. This is a classic example of the slippery slope fallacy. We can agree that everyone would wish to use doping drugs, as they give an advantage - we can draw this belief from what happens currently when a new training method or nutritional supplement is developed. The slippery slope is that of unrestricted use. Athletes and their trainers are not stupid. They know what is good for them and what is less good. This therefore limits the slippery slope that Con is relying on for his argument - as athletes will therefore not dope to a level which is harmful to their health, as this would be a bad thing for them and their future prospects. The parade of horrors that Con has shown us is only based upon taking excessively large doses - but, as the mayo clinic says, 'The effects of taking anabolic steroids at very high doses haven't been well-studied'[2], meaning there is no evidence to back up this claim whatever. R2 'Suicide' Now, the reason that steroids are claimed to cause depression is from the fact that they stop the pituitary glands from producing testosterone - however, the website that Con links us to [2] states that ' Scientists are not completely sure why low testosterone causes depression, but they do know there is a link between the two.' They then go on to say that ' To offset this, it is important to run a proper post cycle therapy (PCT) and bridge.'. So this alleged bad effect of steroids is actually preventable and therefore would be prevented. While the anecdote provided by Con was indeed sad, it is of dubious relevance to his actual case. Sure, there was one person who responded badly to steroids, but the plural of anecdote is not data. This means that this is not actually evidence towards the claim that is being made here. R3 'Unfair advantage' While it may in fact be the case that people respond differently to steroids, there are two factors causing this point to become invalid. Firstly, the evidence that Con has produced is about medical steroids for the treatment of arthritis and not about performance enhancing drugs, so it is invalid as a back up to his arguments. But the second factor is simply - so what? So people respond differently to steroids. So people respond differently to other more 'naturalistic'(notice the quote marks) methods of enhancing performance such as a diet regimen or training! The point is that everybody responds differently to everything, not just steroids, and so any claims of 'unfair' advantage are invalid. R4 'Ruins purpose of sport' There is no evidence whatever that the 'purpose' of sport (if indeed it has one) is, as Con claims, ' in the values that it exhibits.' More development is needed for this point to be considerable, and I would encourage the reader to disregard this pending further development. On to my points. C1 'That permitting all people to dope would erase the advantage that doping currently confers' Let's suppose we're all at a level. Let's further assume that we have an arbitrary scale of 'athleticism', with wizards[3] at 1, the average joe at 50, your average athlete at 80, and Usain Bolt (say) at 100. Let us further assume that doping confers a +20 advantage to your score. Under the current paradigm, your average athlete can dope, and reach the level of a Usain Bolt 'artificially'. Both myself and Con are in agreement that this is inherently bad. But now let's assume that everyone is doping. Sure, the guy who was doping before reaches a level of 100, but now a Usain Bolt (i.e. the ones who were already on top under the 'perfect' paradigm) also reach a higher level. This means there is now no net benefit whatever to doping, and so it is not bad. I look forward to the next round! 1.)http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... 2.)http://www.mayoclinic.org... 3.)http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net... 4.)http://www.menshealth.co.uk...