Equipment is not just about lifting more weight. Equipment of the less extreme variety actually reduces the chance of injury under maximal weights, which is why equipped lifting evolved in the first place - knee wraps were developed from basic bandages, bench shirts were originally used to protect the shoulders. Only the extreme equipment (multiply, canvas, denim, castlike knee wraps etc) has come about due to factional splitting and the desire to be the federation with lifters boasting the biggest numbers.
More importantly, equipped lifting a skill. Putting on equipment will not just allow you to lift more weight. Bench actually becomes a completely different lift. It's a controlled row, following by a lockout. The descent is actually the technically most difficult part about it and if anything, putting on a bench shirt, increases your chances of bombing significantly. Squat suits and knee wraps make it considerably harder to hit depth or do so with any acceleration.
Equipped lifting is also painful. It hurts. It leaves bruises, welts and burns on your body. It makes it hard to breathe. You are often left red-faced with burst blood vessels from the extra blood pressure equipped lifting creates.
n00bs, you should try equipped lifting just to get an appreciation is what it's actually about - it's certainly challenging, but fun once you try.
Using performance enhancing drugs is not a skill. Using performance enhancing drugs does not make a lift technically more difficult. Using performance enhancing drugs does not make lifting safer under maximal loads.
Poor comparison.