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You know we're in a slow news period in the sports world when Viagra becomes the topic du jour. The possible one liners are endless of course, but the gist of the matter is that more and more athletes are taking Viagra as a way to boost their, ahem, sports performance. (for many recent news stories on this topic, just Google "viagra athletes sports")

Viagra is not yet banned by the Olympics or any major sport, so it's no wonder that any athlete looking for a little "boost" would take it if they thought it would make them better at whatever they're doing and possibly give them an advantage over their competition. And with apparently no ill side effects, who wouldn't, especially if your livelihood may be at stake?

This isn't the place to get into the scientific details of how and why it helps athletes (it's related to increased oxygen use by the body, thus helping endurance and muscle performance) but I think there's an obvious connection to a more serious issue.

If steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) are banned as performance enhancing drugs, and we label and punish those caught using them as cheaters, should we now also consider anyone taking Viagra a cheater? Does it make you less of a cheater if you know that technically you're not breaking any rules, but nonetheless are gaining an advantage by taking a drug aimed at increasing your body's ability to perform? And what about when it is banned (as it may well be soon), how do we then perceive all those who took it before the ban? What if an athlete wins a gold medal or breaks a world record at the upcoming Olympics in Beijing and then later admits he or she had taken Viagra? Should we expect them to give up their medal?

It's a fact that high school, college, professional and Olympic caliber athletes will always be looking for a way to gain an edge on their competition by adding something to their body, legal or not. With no end in site, and many millions of dollars spent every year trying to enforce and police the issue, not to mention the questions that are now raised regarding the legitimacy of many sports records, why not just legalize all performance enhancing drugs? If an athlete is willing to risk his or her health (if it comes to that) to have a better performing body, and it levels the playing field at least in terms of opportunity and choice to take the drugs or not, wouldn't that be better than the current system, which will always be a step or two behind the "cheaters"?

The reasons why we don't legalize all performance enhancing drugs are of course varied and mostly valid and go to the heart of who we think we are as a society. But nonetheless the inherent hypocrisy of the system, and the futile battle to try to endlessly carry on this other "war on drugs", perhaps shows us that it's time for a fresh examination of the issue, and that's no joke.

(I'd like to know what you think. You can comment on any Daily Take article by viewing it from its link in the main Daily Take section.)

Tags: athletic performance, viagra