The International Sports Federations have a definite influence on compiling the Prohibited List; they recommend the inclusion of specific substances that may have a positive effect on the results of a particular sport.

The substances on the List of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods (2009) are divided into the following classes:

S1 - Anabolic substances;

S2 - Hormones and hormone-like substances;

S3 - adrenomimetic agents;

S4 - substances with anti-estrogenic activity;

S5 - Diuretics and other masking agents;

S6 - stimulants (prohibited only during competitions)

S7 - narcotics (prohibited only during competitions);

S8 - cannabinoids (prohibited only during competitions)

S9 - glucocorticosteroids (prohibited only during competitions);

P1 - Alcohol - ethyl alcohol (prohibited only in-competition in certain sports)

P2 - Beta-adrenoblockers (prohibited only in competitions in certain sports).

Xenon and argon inhalation have been added to the list since 2014.

None of the substances that belong to the banned class may be used, even if they are not mentioned in the list, due to the identity of their pharmacological effects with the banned substances. No claims that athletes have used substances not on the list are accepted by the Anti-Doping Services. In this regard, Prince A. de Merod, the former head of the IOC Medical Commission, remarked that it would be necessary to use a dictionary to list all prohibited substances. And it is really so, because according to the experts' opinion the list of medicines which may be included in the class of prohibited substances exceeds 30 thousand, i.e. includes the overwhelming majority of drugs produced in the world by the pharmaceutical industry.

Prohibited methods include blood doping (hemotransfusion), pharmaceutical, chemical and physical manipulations to conceal the use of prohibited substances and methods, intravenous infusions (except in cases of medical necessity) and gene doping. We do not consider them because they are not directly related to the subject of sports pharmacology.

Under competitive conditions, all of the above classes of substances and methods are analyzed for testing. Under training conditions, tests are conducted in a more limited form and in accordance with the requirements of international sports federations. Usually samples are taken to detect the presence of anabolic agents, diuretics, peptide hormones, their mimetics and analogues (including EPO), and prohibited methods.

Over the years, the testing process has identified a very small percentage of substances and methods from the huge list approved by the IOC.

The IOC's goal is to ensure that all of the substances and methods on the vast list of substances and methods approved by the IOC are tested.

As an example, the final statistics from the IOC accredited anti-doping laboratories, based on over 125,000 tests conducted in 2001, are summarized. In the group of stimulants, of 352 positive results, 272 (77%) involved only five substances - ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, caffeine, cocaine and phenamine; in the group of narcotic substances, 24 of 29 (82%) involved one substance - morphine; in the group of anabolic agents, of 914 detections, 739 (80%) involved only three substances - testosterone, nandrolone and stanozolol. A similar picture is revealed in the analysis of substances and methods belonging to other classes. In subsequent years, the situation changed little: in 2003, a total of over 151,000 In 2003, a total of 151,000 tests, 2,716 positive results, including stimulants - 516 (pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, cocaine, phenamine and caffeine abuse - 419 cases, or 81.2%), anabolic steroids - 872 (testosterone, nandrolone and stanozololone abuse - 719 cases, or 82.5%), drugs - 26 (morphine abuse - 22 cases, or 84.6%); 2004 - Over 169,000 tests total, 3,305 positive cases, including stimulants - 382 (phenamine, ephedrine, and cocaine abuse - 289 cases, or 75.6%), anabolic steroids - 1,191 (testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozololone abuse - 957 cases, or 50.4%), drugs - 15 (morphine abuse - 10 cases, or 66.7%); 2005 - over 183,000 tests total, positive results - 4,298, of which stimulants - 509 (abuse of phenamine, ephedrine and cocaine - 372 cases, or 73.1 percent), anabolic steroids - 1,864 (abuse of testosterone, nandrolone and stanozolol - 1,663 cases, or 89.2 percent), drugs - 17 (abuse of morphine - 15 cases, or 88.2 percent); 2006 - Over 198,000 tests were conducted, the number of positive results was 4,332, including stimulants - 490 (abuse of phenamine, ephedrine, and cocaine - 350 cases, or 71.4%), anabolic steroids - 1,913 (testosterone, nandrolone, and stanozololol abuse - 1,583 cases, or 82.7%), and drugs - 16 (morphine abuse - 11 cases, or 68.6%). Thus, athletes have been accused of using the same substances with approximately the same frequency year after year during the last decade.

At the same time, the list of banned substances and methods is constantly expanding (it is easy to see this by comparing the list valid for any year, as well as for the one preceding it and the one following it). Naturally, this makes the doping control procedure more complicated and expensive, makes it difficult to identify the substances used, and doubts the accuracy of the conclusions.

The huge list of banned substances, covering the vast majority of drugs, creates great difficulties with the treatment of athletes. They often find themselves in the position of being unable to take effective medication even when it is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, existing procedures for therapeutic use of prohibited drugs (TUEs) are multistep, not always practically feasible, and contribute to delaying the time necessary to provide urgent medical care.

For example, athletes cannot use glucocorticosteroids (orally, rectally, by intravenous or intramuscular injection). Athletes have great difficulties with the medical use of anti-asthmatic drugs, insulin, antidepressants, antivirals and vasoconstrictors, as well as some DDs. Thus all responsibility for the use of drugs and even DD, in case prohibited substances are found in their composition, fully lies on the athlete. Arguments that these drugs had been prescribed by a physician, or that official information on their composition did not contain the prohibited ingredients, are not considered by anti-doping services according to the official policy.

When reading the publications and speeches of experts working in the field of anti-doping, shocking information about the catastrophic effect of doping on health, deaths caused by its use is striking. At the same time, with an unbiased approach, this information is largely emotional, unsubstantiated. In the vast majority of cases there is no convincing evidence that it was the use of banned substances or methods, and not any other factors (tremendous physical stress, overheating the body, etc.), that caused the negative consequences or tragic incidents. The very fact of the use of prohibited substances is accepted as sufficient for such conclusions. If you analyze the statements of another group of specialists, in particular the developers of the same drugs, it is easy to see the opposite position - many drugs banned in sport in reasonable dosages and at rational schemes of taking have a positive impact on the course of adaptation and recovery reactions to training and competition loads, increase immunity and at the same time have no noticeable negative effect.

Unfortunately, the fact of extremely harmful effects of many banned substances is accepted without serious evidence, especially in terms of drug regimens - their dosages, duration of use, relation to the nature of the training process, etc. It should be noted that the negative consequences of doping use (injuries, illnesses, etc.) do not rank high among other health risk factors for athletes. There have been no studies examining, for example, the efficacy and dangers of using anabolic steroids at therapeutic doses during the most strenuous physical activity. The systematic use of anabolic steroids in doses many times greater than therapeutic doses is dangerous to health and conflicts not only with the requirements of medicine and the principles of sport, but also with common sense. But is it possible to treat in the same way the occasional use of certain anabolic steroids in limited doses, counteracting the development of catabolic processes in the body as a result of the debilitating loads of modern sports? Unfortunately, this and many similar questions have not been seriously studied. The mere fact that a substance or method is considered harmful to an athlete turns out to be sufficient grounds for its presence on the list of banned substances. Below we present comprehensive data both on the effects of banned drugs in sport on the effectiveness of training and competition, prevention of the negative effects of exceptionally high loads in modern sports, and on the negative effects of various drugs on athletes' health. They exclude the knowingly negative characteristic of all ergogenic agents only on the grounds that they are included by the IOC in the list of drugs prohibited for use in sport.

Performance-enhancing drugs (Wilmore, Costill, 2001)

The objectivity of this approach has been convincingly demonstrated by world science and practice. This is confirmed by many serious works devoted to the methodology of training athletes, the problem of performance, fatigue and recovery during muscular activity, the use of ergogenic means in sport, the problem of nutrition of athletes, etc. As an example, the fundamental work on sports physiology by well-known specialists J. X. Wilmore and D. L. Costill (2001) can be mentioned. The information in Tables 3.1 and 3.2 clearly shows that the drugs considered as doping belong to the group of ergogenic drugs widely used to enhance performance. Any one of them can give an athlete an advantage over his competitors, but the vast majority, if used in excess or inappropriately, can be detrimental to an athlete's health. Noting the risks associated with the use of hormonal drugs (anabolic steroids, growth hormone), diuretics, phentermine and its derivatives, beta-adrenoblockers and others, the authors warn about the danger and impossibility of using some drugs in sport, but they just as convincingly demonstrate the possibility and advisability of using others, which the IOC has classified as banned.