We should ban caffeine as a PED

You could have searched this up and found the answer very quickly... WADA has a very simply policy that determines whether to add a drug to the prohibited list. I will copy and paste it for you here:

For a substance or method to be added to the List, it must be determined that it meets at least two of the following three criteria:

1. It has the potential to enhance or enhances sport performance

2. It represents an actual or potential health risk to the athletes

3. It violates the spirit of sport

As caffeine does not represent a health risk, and does not violate the spirit of sport (taking caffeine is common practice for the majority of people in the world, athlete or not), it only meets the first criteria. 1/3 = is not banned.

If caffeine is legal then that has me thinking why aren't we allowed to coke up just a little bit before races.

"Spirit of the sport" is super wishy washy. Doping with caffeine violates the spirit of the sport from my perspective. Which two criteria does THC meet?

Also, caffeine can cause jitteriness, anxiety, irregular heartbeat, and even death in high enough doses. Sounds like a "potential health risk" to me.

Caffeine hardens the arteries over time, thus having the long term effects of raising blood pressure and greatly increasing the probability of strokes. Caffeine increases stress, throws the thyroid hormones out of whack, and wears out the adrenals. There are many additional harmful effects from caffeine. Doctors are either clueless or else they want people to keep taking caffeine because it increases their profits.

Rule number two - Coke can harm a person's health.

Coffee does not. We tested it on 200 million people this morning and it went well. It is different.

But once again, the "pretend to be dumb" segment of Letsrun is out in full force... You know coffee doesn't kill people but 'roids, EPO, and cocaine can. You guys aren't really dumb, you are just faking it.

I was taking 200mg pills. Feels a little more energetic but I think it contributed to a higher heart rate on my 2nd to last 5K run. Quit and still ran a PR.

I think its worth noting that WADA does monitor athletes caffeine levels after events.

So its not banned, and having a cup of coffee (or even three) wouldn't throw up any flags, if a US athlete was found with the equivalent of 20 cups of coffee in their blood, it would start an investigation into whether or not that is an abuse of a monitored substance.

Pffft, i used to drink vodka mixed with energy drinks before most of my races!💪

So how do you see a ban on coffee working? Athletes can go to cafes but never partake? For ten or even twenty years?

Just like with cannabis shops! Great job summing it up!!!

Or drink decaf

BS.

If anything, coffee may rather extend than shorten your life span.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Coffee consumption and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a meta-analysis by potential modifiers - PubMed

Coffee consumption has been associated with decreased mortality in previous studies. As aging, obesity, and lifestyle factors affect the risk of mortality, the association between coffee and mortality needs to be examined in...

Link:pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31055709/

Yeah but not because of caffeine.... A natural decaf could do the same as well... Without negative effects...

You're right. But I was responding to the poster who said their are many harmful effects of caffeine. Coffee (whether containing caffeine or not) is not unhealthy.

They tried this kinda in the 2000 Olympics with a caffeine limit. The problem is that caffeine is so common in the average person's diet. One of the most common beverages in the world is coffee. So to police this would be a huge headache and the amount of people claiming they ordered decafe but received caffeinated coffee on accident from a restaurant would make this ban useless.

Intetesting sentiment, unfortunately they would just allow a TUE anyways, because someone claims they would be to sleepy or something.

TUEs are the major problem in my books and are given way way to easily, and certain drugs should never be allowed regardless of medical neccessity.

Caffeine was a banned substance at one point, so they did have luck policing it. Athletes knew and followed the rules as much as they do now avoiding certain burritos.

As far as the 2/3 criteria, the fact that pros openly admit taking caffeine pills before racing is a clear violation of the "spirit of sport".

Except cannabis is a banned drug. You missed that part.