Pharmacy and the 100m sprint

There are many people I know sorely disappointed that they didn’t secure any tickets for the London 2012 Olympics but there are still many ways of being involved. There are volunteering opportunities for students and even pharmacists will be preparing for the event. Lloyds pharmacy secured the coveted contract to be the official medicine suppliers of the 2012 games. Pharmacists play a big part in the Olympics since athletes are in constant need of muscular pain remedies and other medication though there will be strict rules on prescribing and dispensing.

 

There will also be pharmacists and chemists performing rigorous drug tests on as many athletes as possible to ensure that no one is playing unfairly. There are obvious illegal drugs to screen for such as steroids, amphetamines and opiates since these drugs are not expected to be in an athlete’s system and are instantly branded as banned substances. However, there are some drugs that athletes take that are a little more difficult to assess. Such as diuretics and inhalers which seem like innocent, every day medication but can actually be giving an unfair advantage.

 

It came as a shock to me how much drug abuse there is in competitive sport which I learned when we had a few lectures on the subject as part of our forensic science course last year. I found that some athletes took inhalers to open up their airways before competing and that cycling events are one of the most prominent sports where cheating occurrs. I learned of the gruesome term ‘blood doping’ where athletes would store packets of their own blood until the event and then re-inject themselves with it to give them a boost of red blood cells in an attempt to increase the amount of oxygen carried around their body. It seems surprising yet it happens every year and the most we can do is screen as many athletes as possible and pharmacists can be aware of suspicious requests.

 

The question of drugs in sport does taint the excitement of the competition slightly because when we see someone dominate a race we like to conspire whether or not there was something sinister involved.