In recent months, the media has been flooded with numerous cases of performance enhancing drugs being used by professional sports clubs. Initially it was the Essendon football club that was accused of taking illegal drugs. However of late the Melbourne football club and several NRL teams have also found themselves under scrutiny. Any team or individual found to be taking performance enhancing drugs should receive a swift and severe penalty and be given no leniency in the punishment. Guilty clubs or individuals should be held accountable and be used as an example to other clubs so they avoid committing the same offence. Penalties should include the team being stripped of all of their points, severe fines and suspensions. These penalties should be harsh enough to act as a deterrent to all other drug takers. Drug use in sport has, over the past two decades, soared in popularity despite being illegal. An example of a high profile sports person that has given in to the temptation to break the rules would be Lance Armstrong. Evidence of his drug use only came to light recently and his many achievements as a sportsperson have been overturned as a result. There have been a number of high profile names and clubs connected with drug taking such as Manly, Cronulla, Newcastle, North Queensland, Canberra and Penrith from the NRL that have been accused of using illegal drugs. There is an ongoing investigation into the Essendon football club in which many players and staff have been interviewed about whether they have been taking drugs or not. So far no conclusions have been drawn but it is making the sport look bad so action is urgently required. They should be fined either way for bringing the sport into disrepute. The AFL needs to take a serious look into their anti-drugs policies so that they can have the authority to punish teams and players who don't follow the rules. This recent drugs saga is driving the fans away from the sport. This is not