Letters: Trickle-down doping

Re “Chasing Lance Armstrong,” Editorial, June 15

You are right that doping is terrible, but you are right for the wrong reason. Yes, doping is cheating and that is bad, but worse is that doping trickles down.

When top professional cyclists in Europe dope, it puts pressure on mid-level pros in the U.S. who aspire to move to the elite ranks. When American pros dope, it puts pressure on promising young amateurs here at home. This provides an incentive for everyone else in the amateur ranks to cheat, just to keep up.

This same pattern played out in baseball. The result is high school and college kids using steroids and suffering a lifetime of health consequences.

Jeff Pospisil

Playa del Rey

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