Being an avid cyclist, I thought I would change gears for a bit in honour of le Tour de France approaching its finish.

Doping is disallowed in sports currently for two reasons, of which the first was far, far more important when these rules started being put into place:

• Cheating: it gives an unfair advantage.
• Safety: many of the drugs used, or the manner thereof, are unsafe.

In reality, of course, it is arguable how much of an advantage doping really is given its prevalence: an argument has been made that doping merely evens up the tables with everyone else who is already doing it.

Ideally, it seems that the meaningfulness of sports would be derived from essentially the science: research into training, equipment and the ultimate human capabilities that are applicable to the population at large. In the view of sports as a research vehicle for the improvement of the human race, performance-enhancing drugs would seem to be a valid component.

The safety issue parallels the larger drug discussion in that making doping legal and controlled would dramatically increase its safety. A process should exist for determining the allowable substances and dosages thereof - and naturally modifying the lists as new research is available. Courses would be administered under controlled circumstances by qualified medical personnel, and the effects rigorously monitored. Generally applicable research could be then pushed down to "regular people" or specific subgroups such as firefighters.

Undoubtedly, some athletes would balk at the idea and stick with "natural" methods only. This is fine, because bringing doping out of the shadows would simply allow having separate categories for the two groups.

Performance-enhancing drugs are not an "easy-button." To compete in the enhanced group, one would still need to train just as hard as the naturalists do - if not harder. If we imagine a case where "casual" users could obtain some of the drugs as well, they would similarly need to do the basic training to reap any of the benefits - and that training might be a little more comfortable. Sitting on the couch will not make the muscles grow, tone the butt or expand the lungs, drugs or no drugs.