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Australian Football League Players Have a Taste For More Potent Narcotics

May 20, 2010, 7:20 PM UTC

When NFL players fail random league drug tests, it’s almost always performance enhancing drugs (such as those possibly linked to Santana Moss), substances that are often taken to mask the use of performance enhancing drugs (most recently Brian Cushing), or marijuana (most recently Santonio Holmes). Michael Irvin and Jamal Lewis aside, harder recreational drugs like cocaine aren’t the ones that typically crop up when NFL players get in trouble.â†µâ†µThat isn’t the case in Australia, where just last season 14 AFL players tested positive for harder drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy. That’s an increase from the 12 failed tests in 2008. Two of those failed tests in 2009 were second strikes for the unidentified players. Meanwhile, the use of marijuana has dropped since the league implemented a new drug policy a few years ago. Under the policy, the identity of a player who fails a drug test is kept confidential unless the player fails the test three times.â†µ

â†µâ†µLeague officials say that while the total number of positive tests may have increased, the rate of positives has decreased slightly, which they claim points to the success of the program. There are those, such as Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, who say that by not immediately identifying those who receive positive tests, league officials are doing a disservice to those who have to run the teams.â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“We’ll probably never know the names of these 12 players. They won’t be fined and they won’t be suspended unless they are caught offending on three different occasions,” he said.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥ “I am an AFL coach responsible for 40 players yet I have no idea is any of my players have been caught by the AFL for using recreational drugs.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥ “They could be 12 players from other clubs or 12 Collingwood players. I simply don’t know.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µâ†µSo far, no player has yet crossed the three-strike limit. Which means the only drug users that coaches and the public are aware of are those caught by the authorities (such as Fremantle’s Michael Johnson) and not the AFL. With that many positives, there have to be more coaches who share the same concerns as Malthouse.â†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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