Nature: Legalize performance-enhancing drugs

"To cheat in a sporting event is a loathsome thing," the editorial says. "For as long as the rules of the Tour de France or any sporting event ban the use of performance-enhancing drugs, those who break the rules must be punished whenever possible. But this does not preclude the idea that it may, in time, be necessary to readdress the rules themselves."

The journal acknowledges that "there would need to be special protection for children," but doesn't begin to address what form that protection might take. It also concedes that some athletes would no-doubt hurt themselves by using PEDs.

"That said, athletes harm themselves in other forms of training, too," it says. "They may harm themselves less with drugs when doctors can be openly involved and masking agents dispensed with."

Kaufmann indicates he himself has gone back and forth on the issue, at times being gung ho for legalizing all PEDs, at other times feeling nervous about "the Hobson's choice that would give kids -- juice up or don't bother competing." The Nature editorial suggests that legalization is inevitable; Kaufmann is skeptical.

Inevitable sounds like a strong word, maybe a crazy one. It's hard to think of drug legalization as inevitable, in sports or elsewhere. Then again, Nature points out that women and professionals were once banished from sport, and attitudes changed.