Ethics of anti-doping policy

Anti-doping is widely perceived as the biggest threat to the integrity of sport, especially at elite and professional levels. In this course, we present a comprehensive introduction to the anti-doping policy of the global regulator, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and explore the key ethical issues it aims to address and also those which its policies generate. Should athletes be allowed to use any and all performance enhancing substances and methods to enhance their performance? How can we regulate athletes use of performance enhancing drugs in a way that is fair and effective? Ought athletes be allowed to use recreational drugs without committing anti-dopring rule violations? What provisions should be made to allow athletes medication for their health while preventing abuses that enable them to medicate for performance enhancement? In this course, we discuss all these questions and more to get you thinking critically about the ethical issues that are integral to anti-doping policy. Through the use of case studies, videos, expert interviews, and discussions we introduce a variety of ethical issues arise in research practice. You will engage with the course materials and other participants through exercises and open discussion boards. You will acquire the skills to identify ethically challenging issues across a range of sprots and enable to reflect critically on the ethics of anti-doping policies in sport. The course will give you the tools to apply your ethical reasoning in practical, real-life scenarios in sport, challenging you to reflect on case studies and develop your own perspectives on global anti-doping policy.

• What are the origins of doping in sport?
• How can we define doping, if at all?
• Is doping ethically wrong?
• How did anti-doping policy develop?
• Should athletes be allowed to choose whatever substances and methods they can use to enhance their performance level?
• Why is it necessary to have a global code and international standards?
• What are the 11 anti-doping rule violations?
• How can we rationally decide which substances or methods can be banned?
• Should their use be prohibited both in and out of competition?
• Under what circumstances may athletes use prohibited substances or methods?
• Should there be the same sanctions for athletes who intentionally commit an anti-doping rule violation as for those who do not?

• Bachelor degree (in any subject)