This is rather sore and also very debatable topic. I realize everyone has their own opinions based apon experience so I can only give you my outlook on subject based on my experience. I'd say from a competitive stand point your screwed either way. I competed in the all natural midwest bodybuilding championships a few years back and certain events left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. Everything was right on target for me leading up to the show until I had to go in the day before the show to do their so called drug test which was a polygragh test. The woman conducting the test had me sit down and asked me if I had used any performance enhancing drugs of any kind and of cource being a life-long natural  bodybuilder my answer was NO! Then she asked me if I had taken any over the counter meds or Rx meds within the last few days so I was honest and told her that I had Insomnia and I had taken just 1/2 of a unisom tablet the night before to help me sleep. On that note she piped up and began screaming at me, yelling, shouting that I used the Unisom the night before to try to mask my responses to the polygragh test and that I was trying to cheat and cover up the fact that I was using performance enhancing drugs and she was going to continue to go ahead and run the test anyway and that if my test came up inconclusive then I would be disqualified from the show the next day and I would be suspended by the INBF for the next 7 years and not allowed to compete. I was in shock!!! No where in the rules did it say anything about over the counter medicines not being used and Unisom? All it is, is a mild anthihistamine to help you relax. The stuff would of been out of my system long before I had my drug test. I was furious! I had dieted and trained so hard for 9 months straight, spent hundreds of dollars on supplies for the contest, not to mention all assanine fees they charge you to compete, and now this dumb bitch was going flush it all down the toilet with me having no say of defense in the matter! My test came out inconclusive but she did say she was going to test me one more time before the show in the morning and if I tested inconclusive again then it was over for me. I didn't sleep a wink that night, I was so pissed! I showed up the next day and did the test over and I did pass but it helps when you don't have mean bitch with penis envy screaming in your face right before the test. I went on to compete in the show and took second place to some guy that looked like crap and had only been doing it 2 years versus my 19 years but that's a whole other story. Now the next year I decided I couldn't go through another show and have happen to me what happened in the last show which was a INBF show, so I decide to try an NPC show. I had never competed in an NPC show before so nieve me went ahead to compete in the NPC Mr. Wisconsin not knowing that NPC actually stands for Necessitates Pharmaceutical Chemicals! This was a mind blowing experience as well. In the natural shows I was always viewed as a freak because of my mass and thickness but at this competition I was very mediocre. I couldn't believe it during the weigh in! These guys were coming in at 5' 8 and weighing 235 lbs absolutely shredded! I didn't know at the time but the Mr. Wisconsin was opened up for anyone to compete nation wide and it was a pro qualifier so as far as I was concerned it may as well of been the Mr. Olympia. Super heavy weights were showing up 6'4 weighing around 280 lbs shredded! So many of the competitors looked like circus freaks or something you see at the Olympia! I over heard guys backstage talking among each other about the steroid cycles they were on which many of them said they were running anywhere from 5-9 different steroids and also taking insulin shots and HGH and IGF-1 shots along with prescription diuretics and also cutting out water completely starting 3 days out from the show. Alot of these guys were young too, some just around 20 years old and already all gased up on drugs! All I could think was Holy sh*t! These guys are pumping all this sh*t in their bodies to try and make the top 10 in their class of the Mr. Wisconsin??? Some of these guys wil be dead or on dialysis within the next 5 years so they can have a little glass plate worth about $2.00 that says: 5th place Wisconsin Bodybuilding championships. Worth it? This is where promoters really fail by allowing this to happen. To set the bar so high in a local or state bodybuilding competition that competitors have to use riduculous amounts of illegal drugs in order to have a fighting chance at placing. I ended up placing 6th out of 16 guys in my weight class which was fair considering I was all natural, but never would I have a chance to win a contest such as this where the bar is set so high that it becomes more about how many drugs you can dump into your system without dying then it does how healthy, and naturaly lean and muscular you can become as a result of your experience, hard work and education as it relates to bodybuilding. This is a disaster to the sport! At what point will the line be drawn? How many men and women will have to die and suffer career ending health problems? I personally know of many local bodybuilders who are now dead that never even lived to see age 40. What kind of example is being set for young soon to be bodybuilding and fitness enthusiasts who are about to enter the competitive seen? I guess the bottom line is if you intend to compete then you need to do it for yourself and strive to be the best that you can be without feeling the pressure to give in and sacrifice your health in order to impress a panel of 5 or 6 people that don't give a crap about your well being. Strive to acheive a look that you feel good about and can be happy with for many years to come. Whether you compete in drug free events or non drug free events or no events at all.