Performance Decreasing Drugs

With so much focus on steroid scofflaws these past few years, it’s tough to remember that professional athletes are often forced to dabble in performance-sapping drugs, too. Such is currently the case with Spanish MotoGP star Dani Pedrosa, who’s been racing on painkillers since badly injuring his hip in a nasty spill. And while the pills enable him to sit atop his bike without feeling terrible discomfort, they also fray his reaction time by a few milliseconds—and thus consign him to more mediocr