Are you FOR or AGAINST drug testing in chess?

So let me hear your opinion on this . . . 

Testing for or with drugs?

Exactly what drugs might a chess-player use to his advantage that he needs to be tested for?

Has it been proven that there is some drug that enhances chess performance? It seems to me that if there isnt such proof I dont see the point in testing chess players for drugs. If it doesnt enhance preformance who cares if some chess players has a few beer with lunch and then has to play the next round? You do know such tests will consider alcohol as drugs too  right ?

Are there actually any examples of drugs being used in tournaments? 

Well there are som drugs that are boosting your brain (Natrol brainSpeed).

By the way i like to drink beer . . . so if it ever comes to that it will be a hard to decide between beer and chess.   :)

 

What about nerve soothing drugs, such as Betablog?

 Factors such as stress, and losing concentration due to distraction, or a 'tired' brain can be prevented with certain drugs.

 

If there is examples, and reliable scientific test results which show that there are chess performance boosting drugs, I'd say yes, bring in the urine!

Definitely, but problem is, if we discover that LSD literally makes you a 10x better chess player (everyone) will we all start taking it and spending our high-time on chess.com?

I personally think people should be able to take whatever they want during any sport, because the rules seem very vague to me. Certain foods aid performance, so why not drugs?

Testing for drugs will mean chess players also wont be allowed to have beer or wine with a meal if they have a game soon after. I often like to have a beer or two with lunch or a glass of wine (maybe two). The few times I have played chess with people that I knew was using drugs I found that they play worse, not better, when high. Rules in chess are threatening to become too ridiculous to endure. In a youth event not long ago I heard that a child was expelled from a tournament for going to the toilet without permission. It seems the toilet facilities was not in the same building/room as the games were and you werent supposed to leave the playing area without permission. If I ever have to get permission to go pee I will quit organized chess, enough is enough.

Drug laws are nothing but the morality police actions. De-criminalize drug laws. What is the difference between pot and cigarettes? Cigarettes give you cancer, pot gives you the munchies. So do you lock up the pot head whose biggest crime is to eat all the doritos or the parent that kills their kids with second hand smoke?

The only reason cigarettes are still legal is because the morality police need their tax revenue stream from cigarette taxes. Hypocrites. Legalize pot and tax the hell out of the potheads.

And no, don't drug test chess players, we grow out of it. It is the baseball players that don't. 

Dexedrine or adderall would give an advantage, I'm certain.

last_file, any human being, even a kid, can get cancer from second-hand smoke. It doesn't even matter how long you get exposed, it just takes one molecule of any of 60 carcinogens to touch off a cancer. True, more time means more chances for cancer to develop, but you can be killed by an amount you can't even smell. So yes, it's happened, and it continues to. And I disagree with you about the privacy thing. Drug testing in sports is a way to keep things fair and real. If you don't want to be drug tested, quit the sport, if you don't want to quit the sport, don't do drugs. It's that simple.

If a drug has been scientifically proven in multiple experiments to enhance chess-playing ability, then I think we should test for that drug and others that perform the same function.  I, however, do not advocate testing excretions for alcohol, or other such substances, because often a player's performance will decrease when playing under the influence, and that should be it's own punishment.

"Dexedrine or adderall would give an advantage, I'm certain."

 

Caffeine too and maybe some prescription medicines.

 

I would venture to say, that if a person plays well with whatever drug-of-choice, he/she plays equally well without that drug.

 

Well... Caffeine is in the 2008 Monitoring Program at World Anti-Doping Agency, and I do believe it enhances my chess playing ability on a daily basis.

This question is only political in nature if one thinks about it very abstractly.  Also, the ban on politics was created in order to avoid arousing unruly behavior as a result of passionate arguments regarding conflicting beliefs regarding political and religous aspects of life.  This is a minorly political question regarding chess, and I cannot see it degenerating into the brazen brawls that many other political posts have succumbed to.

JorickHorn wrote: last_file, any human being, even a kid, can get cancer from second-hand smoke. It doesn't even matter how long you get exposed, it just takes one molecule of any of 60 carcinogens to touch off a cancer. True, more time means more chances for cancer to develop, but you can be killed by an amount you can't even smell. So yes, it's happened, and it continues to. And I disagree with you about the privacy thing. Drug testing in sports is a way to keep things fair and real. If you don't want to be drug tested, quit the sport, if you don't want to quit the sport, don't do drugs. It's that simple.

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Chess hasnt been allowed into the Olympics because they have ruled its NOT a sport, so where's that leave us and the drug testing ?

Reb wrote: JorickHorn wrote: last_file, any human being, even a kid, can get cancer from second-hand smoke. It doesn't even matter how long you get exposed, it just takes one molecule of any of 60 carcinogens to touch off a cancer. True, more time means more chances for cancer to develop, but you can be killed by an amount you can't even smell. So yes, it's happened, and it continues to. And I disagree with you about the privacy thing. Drug testing in sports is a way to keep things fair and real. If you don't want to be drug tested, quit the sport, if you don't want to quit the sport, don't do drugs. It's that simple.

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Chess hasnt been allowed into the Olympics because they have ruled its NOT a sport, so where's that leave us and the drug testing ?

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 So, explain their logic to me.  A sport is a game which requires skill and intelligence to complete and compete against other players.  How does chess not fit this criteria?

Are you talking about caffeine, nicotine, alcohol.  I hope caffeine is ok.  I don't use the other two.  I wouldn't want to play with someone who smoked, because I don't smoke and second hand smoke gives me headaches.  Also in most cases anymore smoking is usually only allowed outdoors.  I wouldn't want to play with someone who uses alcohol because sometimes people who drink too much become rather loud and annoying.  During a tournament I am sure they would be asked to leave.