Drug testing in sport: The attitudes and experiences of elite athletes

Dunn, Matthew; Thomas, Johanna O.; Swift, Wendy; Burns, Lucinda; Mattick, Richard P.

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2009.12.005

« Previous Next »International Journal of Drug Policy
Volume 21, Issue 4 , Pages 330-332, July 2010

Drug testing in sport: The attitudes and experiences of elite athletes

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Received 29 September 2009; received in revised form 6 November 2009; accepted 18 December 2009. published online 15 January 2010.

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to investigate, among a sample of elite Australian athletes, the extent to which this group supports drug testing as a deterrent to drug use.

Method

Data was collected from a convenience sample of (n=974) elite Australian athletes who self-completed a questionnaire, and semi-structured telephone surveys with key experts.

Results

The athletes surveyed endorsed testing for banned substances as an effective way of deterring drug use; believed that the current punishments for being caught using a banned substance was of the appropriate severity; and indicated that there should be separate policies regarding illicit drug (ID) and performance-enhancing drug (PED) use.

Conclusion

A large proportion of elite athletes in Australia endorse drug testing as an effective means of deterring drug use. They perceive a difference between being detected using a PED and an ID and believe that penalties should reflect this difference. Future research may wish to investigate attitudes towards newer methods employed to detection drug use.

Keywords: Illicit drugs, Performance-enhancing drugs, Policy, Sport, Drugs in sport, Doping