Performance Enhancing Drugs In Esports

In the ever-growing world of competitive gaming, Esports is starting to face an issue that many would not expect to come out of the gaming world. Performance-enhancing drugs in Esports would not be your first sports betting pick if you had to choose a sport for there to be an issue with performance-enhancing drugs. But it is becoming a bigger concern in Esports and one that needs to be addressed.

Effects of Using PEDs

Now we already hit on why esports players use these different drugs to enhance their performance, but the true risk lies in the health concerns of prolonged use of these drugs without the physical need of them. Outside of the performance enhancement aspect of PEDs, use can lead to addiction, overdoses, serotonin syndrome, and severe weight loss. These can be very dangerous and life-altering situations. But what is being done to combat the use of these PEDs?

Regulation of PEDs

Unfortunately, the United States Esports Federation and the International Esports Federation have not banned any possible PEDs even though they belong to the World Anti-Doping Agency esports branch. This is a gross oversight that needs to be corrected in esports in order to keep the integrity and safety of the players and game in check.

Individual leagues such as the Electronic Sports League have banned substances and PEDs from use during their competitions with real repercussions coming from the use of said PEDs. But testing for these types of PEDs is troublesome and expensive. For example, testing for the use of Adderall is extremely expensive and is not perfect as the drug leaves the system relatively fast. 

What Can Be Done To Curb PED Use?

The governing bodies of the Esports world need to come together in a unified front to put an end to the use of PEDs in esports. With the use of prescription drugs, testing can be difficult and expensive, but at the rate of growth that the esports industry is showing, it surely can be done. Players also need to take responsibility for their actions and begin putting an end to their use, which is easier said than done. But at the end of the day, the overall health of the players should be the most important aspect of gameplay rather than all-out enhanced performance.