I think you make a good point, the analogies are off. As many of his fans know, Clapton "stole" heavily from the likes of Robert Johnson, but made it clear that he did, so he's in the clear (not to be mistaken with being on "the clear"). In a sanctioned race like IMH it is 100% obvious to every athlete competing, especially the pro's in contention for large sums of cash, that PED's are not welcome and use of them will lead to a DQ and suspension from future sanctioned races for a designated amount of time, generally between 2 years and life.

I think my issue is with the drug war in general. I don't want to see everybody using drugs freely and liberally, as I think our personal power is greatest when we attain a lucidity only possible through sobriety. I believe that because PED's/drugs are illegal, and illegal things are taboo to talk about, it actually proliferates employment of them due to their mysteriousness and superhuman feats associated with them, be it mental, physical, or supernatural. It's human nature to reach for the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge.

Supposedly there is something like several million people illegally using steroids in the US alone, in addition to the large sum of older folks on hormone therapy that are receiving steroids by a doctor. I've also read that up to 1% of the US population smokes pot on a regular basis, like more than once a week. A CHP officer once told me that somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-10% of everyone driving is not sober, whether they've been drinking, doing illicit drugs, or are on medications that advise them not to drive. It's a gigantic societal problem that is not at all limited to athletics. As for the original analogy regarding artists, it is illegal for them too, it's just not frowned upon as heavily by the companies who distribute their works. So I think Steven King using his "on switch", as he referred to cocaine, could be debated as cheating other authors, who were writing while sober, from being on the best seller list.

I don't know if legalization is the answer, but I have a feeling that will be something the US experiments with in the future, especially to combat terrorist funding and to reduce the deficit that the costs of the war on drugs adds to.

With the advent of gene doping (Does anybody here really understand that? I don't.)it seems that violation of the major sanctions/federations policies is only going to rise. I'd rather see the policy of the federations being that doping is allowed, but only clean contestants are elligible for prize money. Doped athletes would have to disclose that they are not elligible for prize money before the competition. Drug testing would continue for those in the money spots, and those found cheating would never be elligible for prize money again, period, no two year slap on the wrist.

What do you guys think? How do we combat the root of this problem? Do we even understand the root of the problem?