Since this topic will never die, or be resolved, here's my take:
Drugs are here to stay. People in the right places are making plenty of cash...promoters, supp companies. Even 'some' atheletes.
To them, there's nothing wrong with the equation.
And it all comes down to cash. Nobody will care about bodybuilding once the cashflow stops. Think about it...even the supplement industry, where there is NO regulation. You don't have to prove a damn thing, you just have to market it properly and make the cash...until your product sells poorly, then you start the whole damn process again.
Listen to Serge Nubret on PBW....he took NO supplements, like protein. Steroids, I'm sure he did just like the rest. But the MINDSET of the guys back then was to TRAIN hard, eat hard and compete.
That formula worked for during the 70's....you had guys with superior genetics winning titles. But there are SO FEW guys who can compete at that level due to their genetics, that unless you had something that allows ANYBODY to compete, you'd still have five guys at the Mr O contest and supplement and magazine companies wouldn't be where they are now.
It's all business...and that's what's truly ruining bodybuilding.
Check out CURLING...many people love that game (sport, whatever). They get NO money from winning world titles, but people watch it, follow it, and it gets national television coverage...and you can SEE the passion their have for the game.
Right now, CURLING has a bigger following than pro bodybuilding. That's sad, but very telling: mainstream success doesn't mean jack unless you've got something worth competing for.
Bodybuilding won't be mainstream again until you get another Arnold...which doesn't look likely. The closest I see is Phil Heath....there's a guy who LOVES bodybuilding, and doesn't look or talk like a guy who's on death row two weeks before a contest!!!
The golden eras of ANY sport 'happen' because you get a guy with CHARISMA to bring new blood into the sport.
It's true for basketball (Jordan), hockey (Gretzky, Crosby) and golf (Woods). The only thing about bodybuilding is that for you to even CONSIDER becoming great, you must break the law.
And most smart people never bother doing that, because they know they don't have the genetics to beat someone like Phil Heath, even with ALL the drugs in the world.
At the end of the day, either you choose to like bodybuilding or you don't. Don't expect the system to change as long as you fund and take part in the status quo.
And Chick...I seriously doubt that 10 people attend the natural shows. FAME holds many contests up in Canada and the USA and they PACK auditoriums...and the competitors are (as much as can be proven thus far) natural trainers.
If only the NPC put a lil more emphasis on the natural shows...THAT'S what would turn this trend around, as well. They'll NEVER do it though because there's no money in it. Simple.
Thanks for the comments, though. Nice to hear some intelligent comments for a change on this topic.