Drugs in Sports

A drug used to increase blood production in both medical treatments and athletic doping scandals seems also to improve memory in those using it. New research shows that the memory enhancing effects of erythropoietin (EPO) are not related to its effects on blood production but due to direct influences on neurons in the brain.

Anabolic steoids are drugs that resemble testosterone, a hormone which is produced in the testes of males and, to a much lesser extent, in the ovaries of females. Testosterone is partially responsible for the developmental changes that occur during puberty and adolescence and is also involved in controlling the rates of buildup and breakdown of the main biochemical components of all tissues, including muscle. http://www.science.org.au/nova/055/055key.htm

Androstenedione was used by East German Olympic swimmers and other athletes in the 1970s and 1980s to improve their performances. It was banned by the International Olympic Committee in 1997, but is currently permitted by some other sporting bodies, such as Major League Baseball in the USA. Mark McGuire, who set a baseball home-run record in 1999, has admitted to using androstenedione Nandrolone was allegedly detected in a urine sample provided by British sprinter and Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie in 1999. http://www.science.org.au/nova/055/055key.htm

Is there any benifit taking drugs in sports? If dont have any benifit then why they are taking drugs?