[Godstud]

Using them, in Canada at least, is not illegal. Selling them is, but it's under the FDA act and carries a relatively light fine. I have a friend who makes good money selling them.

on the other hand, there ARE problems associated with PED use, and ignoring them is silly.

DrugFacts: Anabolic Steroids
Some of the most dangerous consequences that have been linked to steroid abuse include kidney impairment or failure; damage to the liver; and cardiovascular problems including enlargement of the heart, high blood pressure, and changes in blood cholesterol leading to an increased risk of stroke and heart attack (even in young people).
http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/d ... c-steroids

Anabolic steroid use increases heart attack risk and causes liver damage
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2006/02/5391/a ... ver-damage

Steroid Use Damages Health Later in Life
http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/02/23 ... /4273.html

That said, go ahead and use them if you like, but don't pretend there are no consequences.

[Kapanda]

As in, all drugs can be abused. So can paracetamol, but it's not illegal.

That's not a reasonable justification to outright ban them either. The potential for abuse is true about every single substance we consume.

[Godstud]

In many sports, the use of such is illegal. Why is that bad?

That it's illegal to SELL and such is probably more due to the problems associated with misuse...

Not everything we imbide has the same consequences...

It takes year so alcohol abuse to damage the liver... Not so with steroids. Steroids and the like also have other repercussions. Pretending they are not harmful is clearly delusional, on some lavel.

[Kapanda]

I don't think anybody pretends PEDs cannot be harmful...

But neither does anybody know the exact consequences of controlled PED use (I'm referring to the classic cases here, anabolic steroids, HGH and the likes).

The bad thing is that it stiffens competition in what is in all other intents a competitive environment. And it does so arbitrarily.

[Godstud]

Even controlled PED use can be harmful. I've sued steroids in a controlled situation but there is still side effects and long-term effects you need to consider. In the end I quit only because of the long-term effect on my liver. I took them to supplement my los of testosterone due to aging, but then at some point you need to recognize that even that little bit(very small amounts of Windstrol) can have effects.

[Harmattan]

That was a counter to the "unfair advantage" argument.

But I never used this argument. I didn't oppose it because it would be unfair, I am saying that legalizing it would ruin the advantage anyway and force everyone to use them for no benefit.

Many of the PEDs (I can't affirm this to be the case with every PED, but definitely the classic cases) were not known to be dangerous before they were banned. They were just arbitrarily deemed so. That's the crux of it all

Al drugs, including PED, are prohibited by default until proven safe (*). And again nothing prevents the PED manufacturers to run the required studies, unless the products have already been proven dangerous.

(*) And given the high number of drugs who are rejected because of their toxicity during toxicity studies, this is not an useless precaution.

[Kapanda]

But I never used this argument. I didn't oppose it because it would be unfair, I am saying that legalizing it would ruin the advantage anyway and force everyone to use them for no benefit.

Layman alluded to that argument.

Al drugs, including PED, are prohibited by default until proven safe (*). And again nothing prevents the PED manufacturers to run the required studies, unless the products have already been proven dangerous.

(*) And given the high number of drugs who are rejected because of their toxicity during toxicity studies, this is not an useless precaution.

Source? That runs counter to logic and common knowledge. And I don't find anything alluding to this assertion.

There is a list of banned substances from WADA which an athlete adheres to. If what you're saying is true, it would be the opposite, a list of approved substances.

Each competitive organising body also has its own list of banned subtances. I haven't heard of a formal "accepted substances" list.