Recreational Drugs In Sports

[Jehna]

Not too impressed with the assumptions made by this article but it was always going to happen...so we might as well debate it...

___________________________
How on earth do we fix this mess?

By Ray Chesterton
October 03, 2007



AN autopsy report today will link the death of former West Coast Eagles AFL star Chris Mainwaring to recreational drug abuse.

But in a few days Mainwaring's death will fall into the oblivion reserved for fading news stories. It will have been a momentary but highly public blip - until the next death.

That's what happened when rugby league Test star Peter Jackson died of a drug overdose in 1997. And if not for a policeman in London, it might be rugby league's greatest player Andrew Johns and not Mainwaring in the news.

The constable found an ecstasy tablet in Johns' pocket which began the public unraveling of the Australia star's drug problems.

Instead of Mainwaring running through streets near his Perth home yelling and screaming as he battled demons unleashed by a weekend binge on ecstasy and alcohol, it might have been Johns. Johns has now vowed to abandon drugs and continue medication to counter his depression.

Elite football in Australia - rugby league, rugby union and AFL - is awash with a drug problem that authorities are struggling to counteract.

Just look at the facts: from Mark Geyer to Wendell Sailor to Mark Bosnich to Ben Cousins, there is a sea of well-known sporting heroes turned drug abusers. For so long some people have argued we don't need to test for so-called recreational drugs. Yet here again, with Mainwaring, we are faced with the harsh reality of a problem too long ignored.

A sporting player-manager said yesterday on condition of anonymity that player use of recreational drugs was rife. "Footballers have easy access to recreational drugs because people want to be their friends," he said. "They give them drugs."

Reform measures by authorities are ineffective. The AFL allows players three drug offences before public discipline. It is seen as soft.

There is more support for NRL policy of a player being named for a second offence after the first breach was kept secret.

There is even more support for the comprehensive diligence of the Brisbane Broncos, who conduct a minimum 300 drug tests a year on their teams.

"The players agree they can be tested 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year," says CEO Bruno Cullen. "But alcohol is a greater curse than drugs. Most offences by players, including being tempted to use drugs, can be traced to alcohol."

Three clubs - believed to be Souths, Gold Coast and the Cowboys - are now looking at duplicating the Broncos' hard-line drugs policy. Sport cannot change society but it can protect its own territory provided it has the courage.The Broncos' solution is draconian but it works - that is what matters.

Former Kangaroo Greg Alexander says the Broncos idea has merit. "A player would have to decide if having a big night out is worth ending his career," he said. "I wouldn't be opposed to that policy."

NRL boss David Gallop says his code's policy demands clubs do a minimum 70 tests a year for recreation drugs.

"Testing of federal police is no more onerous than ours, and they carry weapons," he said.

A flaw in the NRL system pinpoints the problems clubs face in disciplining star players. The NRL keeps a player's first positive drug test secret but it publicly names anyone caught twice and imposes a 12-week suspension.

It is possible to serve a 12-week suspension and still return to first grade the same year, opening the way for a possible third offence.

There is also a perception that clubs are reluctant to upset key players - particularly one playing well despite his known drug use.

Johns admitted his pursuit of drugs and alcohol was so ferocious and so public it was an open secret in his home city of Newcastle. Yet not once did Johns test positive to drugs.

It's now a decade since fun-loving Jackson was found dead of an overdose in a lonely motel. It was the first significant death from drugs in rugby league.

The horrific details of his addiction and battle with depression caused an avalanche of questions about how it happened.

Surely someone had known? Surely something could have been done? Help should have been provided. A decade later, the same blame game was replayed about Johns.

"The first duty of care belongs to the club," said another player-manager. "But I know one manager who checked a client into rehab and picked him up a week later. The player had been in first grade a lot but drugs took it all away."

Mixed signals about the role of players in society and the dilemma clubs face if a star tests positive cloud the situation. Most players love the limelight and the commercial opportunities on offer but argue they are not role models.

Brisbane's Bruno Cullen disagrees. "From the moment players sign their first autograph they are role models," he says.

[hopep]

Agree Jehna, some assumption there that aren't quite right.
But I think the tone of the article is saying, lets test and catch them - so they can get some help early.

Too many 'officials' have been of the head in the sand variety for my liking.

Also, the worst thing that could have been said about CM was "the last person to see him alive was Cousins", just a bloody shame.

[The InnFORCEr]

Agree Jehna, some assumption there that aren't quite right.

Which bits are assumptions??

[Jehna]

Cousins wanted drug test

By Michael Warner, Damian Barrett and Peter Mickelburough
October 03, 2007
TROUBLED West Coast Eagle Ben Cousins volunteered for a drug test hours after the death of best mate Chris Mainwaring.

Sources said Cousins presented himself to club officials shortly after Mainwaring collapsed and died of a suspected drug overdose about 1am on Monday.

The Brownlow medallist, who has been battling his own substance addiction, had visited Mainwaring's home twice in the hours before his death, but left about 90 minutes before neighbours heard Mainwaring yelling for help.

"Ben is devastated by this. But he'll get the all-clear. He's had the drug tests," a source told the Herald Sun yesterday.

The results of an autopsy and toxicology tests could be known as early as today. However it has been widely reported that Mainwaring had been using cannabis and ecstasy.

Sources close to Mainwaring said yesterday they feared he may have taken a cocktail of sedatives to counteract the effects of other drugs. A source said that though not a heavy user, Mainwaring had always dabbled in illicit drugs.

He had also been taking anti-depressants, the source said. (I can actually vouch for this. My dad works at Charlie's and said the same...but I'm not sure its particularly relevant to his death...)

However friend and ex-Test cricketer Brendan Julian said Mainwaring hadn't touched drugs during a recent European holiday the two families had taken. "In the seven weeks we were away, he never touched drugs at all and I was with him 24 hours a day," Julian said. "What I see is totally out of character. That's why it's such a big shock, because I have known him for so long."

But associates said Mainwaring was a "social" drug user who liked to "party hard". Julian denied the Mainwarings took the trip to patch up their marriage, saying it had been planned for over a year. However friends said Mainwaring had been down for a number of weeks over marriage problems. Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett said, "Chris had some underlying problems that everyone was trying to help him with."

Cousins visited Rani Mainwaring at 4.20pm yesterday, leaving just over an hour later. She arrived at her Cottesloe home two hours earlier with children, Maddy, 8, and Zac, 6, her parents and many family and friends.

An associate said Mainwaring's friendship with Cousins had created problems; Cousins's ex-girlfriend, who left him over his drug-taking, stayed friends with Rani Mainwaring.

Mainwaring shielded Cousins from media and persuaded him to go into rehabilitation. "The Cousins affair took its toll on Chris. It put a lot of pressure on his family," the source said.

Neale Fong, the Eagles chaplain, said the family was "pretty shook up" and deeply saddened. "They want to express thanks to everyone for their sympathy and best wishes."

Mr Fong, who married the pair 10 years ago, denied their marriage had collapsed. "They were a great couple and that's how people should remember them," he said.

The club will pay tribute to Mainwaring at its awards on Friday night. There were plans to retire his No. 3 jumper, also worn by departing Chris Judd.

The Eagles board met last night to discuss a possible public memorial service.




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Mainwaring death rocks Cousins

By Damian Barrett
October 03, 2007
BEN Cousins' well-being remains of great concern to West Coast as he grieves for his friend Chris Mainwaring while continuing his rehabilitation for substance use.

Eagles chief executive Trevor Nisbett said Cousins, who twice visited Mainwaring on Sunday before the dual premiership player died after midnight, was a long way from beating his problems and would likely return to a Malibu drug clinic in the US.

While hundreds of tributes for Mainwaring continued to be registered at West Coast's Subiaco base, the Eagles moved to distance themselves from the alleged drug-taking circumstances surrounding the death of their former star.

"We recognised late last year the problems we had within our club with the current group of players and Chris's situation is an entirely different thing," Nisbett said.

The Eagles board met Tuesday night to discuss many facets of Mainwaring's passing, including Cousins' rehabilitation, the possibility of retiring Mainwaring's No.3 guernsey (also worn by Chris Judd) and the holding of a state memorial service.

It also emerged some associated with the Eagles had been annoyed with the mentoring role played by Mainwaring to Cousins. "The club is devastated. It's going through a very tough time at the moment. We are helping Chris's family wherever we can and will continue to do that," Nisbett said.

Nisbett said while Cousins was dealing well with his rehabilitation, full recovery remained distant.

Cousins visited Mainwaring at the request of Mainwaring's wife, Rani, on Sunday morning, and again later that day. Cousins left about 10pm.
By 12.30am the following day, Mainwaring had died, after allegedly mixing cannabis, ecstasy and alcohol. It is known Mainwaring had been taking anti-depressant medication in recent weeks.

"We are very concerned about Ben," Nisbett said. "And we will continue to be concerned until Ben can say he has rehabilitated completely. "He knows he is not out of the woods. I have said that continuously. He has got a long way to go yet. He is working so hard at that and we are extremely proud of him.

"There has been a lot of rumour and innuendo about Ben since the footy finished, but he is in great shape. But, we were concerned about him (after Mainwaring's passing), and he was also with his dad, trying to come to terms with what had happened to a friend who had helped him. (Ben) was only trying to help him."

Cousins was mentored by Mainwaring before, during and after his own problems became public in March.

Though Mainwaring died after problems allegedly relating to drug use, Nisbett said nothing should be read in to his connection with Cousins.
"What it (the Cousins-Mainwaring friendship) says is that Chris may have experienced it in a former life and consequently he was trying to help a friend at the start of the year," Nisbett said.

"Chris knew the dangers and he was trying to assist Ben with first of all getting in to rehab, which is often tough when people don't recognise they have a major problem." Ben was trying to return the favour and I think that goes without saying."

[Jehna]

Life bans in tough new drug regime

By Patrick Smith
October 06, 2007
AUSTRALIA's leading sportsmen and women face life bans under a strict new out-of-competition illicit drug policy to be introduced next year as the Federal Government responds to what it claims is growing community concern about the abuse of drugs in sport.

The Government will commit an annual $21 million to conduct a minimum 6000 tests in all major sports. Sports Minister George Brandis, and the Minister advising the PM on illicit drugs, Christopher Pyne, will announce the new protocols in Melbourne.

This new initiative is independent but concurrent to ASADA's performance-enhancing policy and procedures. A player who offends for the first time will not be named but a third offence could see sports stars disqualified for life. It is a significantly tougher policy than the one introduced by the AFL two years ago and constantly derided as soft on drugs by government members including Prime Minister John Howard.

The policy will not be compulsory but government sources said major professional sports of cricket, swimming, basketball, cycling, tennis, rugby league and rugby union had committed to the new protocols.

The policy is available to all sports, encourages sanctions for first offences, addresses minimum standards of testing, management of results and education and funding of 6000 tests.

A first offender is afforded confidentiality but he or she faces:
* Formal warning of a breach;
* Counselling and rehabilitation;
* Notice of further target testing;
* Suspended fine or suspension from competition.

A second offence will see the player named publicly and face suspension, which will vary according to the seriousness of the breach. He is also liable to be fined on top of the initial suspended fine incurred for a first offence.

A third breach sees the player named publicly and suspended, which could include a life ban.

It also provides for a moratorium while the code is bedded down. The thrust of the policy is aimed at sports and their stars who are considered role models by the community but any national sport can use the regime to test for illicit drugs.

Administrators will work with the Australian Anti-Doping Authority to establish programs specific to their particular sports. The Government expects the new drug policy to be written into player contracts and competition rules. ASADA will not conduct the testing. That will fall to the national sporting bodies who must authorise any tests undertaken by clubs.

Sports that agree to the policy will have all their related expenses funded by the Government, although sports will be allocated money according to the likelihood of those sports being at risk to illicit drugs abuse. Sports will be required to report to ASADA twice a year.

It will not be necessary under the policy to test positive to breach the code. Possession or third-party testimony can also be used to assess a breach of the rule as would any attempted tampering with a sample or interference in the collection procedure.

The list of banned drugs is governed principally by the World Anti-Doping Agency and clearly identified in the policy announcement. They include stimulants (such as amphetamines, cocaine); narcotics (heroin); cannabinoids (marijuana) and others such as LSD.

The Government is also committed to an education program which it identifies as a key element in the fight against illicit drugs and will take advice from codes that already have programs in place and will consult with major drug education and treatment facilities, the Australian Drug Foundation and the Australian Federal Police.

The document stipulates that once a sport embraces the code and its minimum standards set by ASADA it can apply for Government funding from July 1. Sports that establish programs before 2009 will do so under an amnesty.

The philosophy of the code is based on the role sport has in defining the Australian culture and character. And while it considers performance-enhancing issues under control, the Government identifies that sport as a positive influence in the community has never been under greater threat because of illicit drugs.

This season has been a wretched one for the AFL and NRL. West Coast pin-up boy Ben Cousins was suspended and spent a month in rehabilitation in California, rugby league legend Andrew Johns admitted to drug and alcohol issues throughout his career and this week former West Coast champion Chris Mainwaring died suddenly, aged 41. Reports suggest he had taken a mix of marijuana and ecstasy.

The Australian

[JediKnight]

Why not name & shame (and then rehabilitate) after the first offence? It's still condoning illegal activity, IMHO.