• Drug use

I anticipated that my new role as Chief Medical Officer at the Australian Institute of Sport might be challenging. Little did I suspect however how soon the challenges would come and in what guise. On 7 February 2013, one week into my new role, a report landed on my desk. The report was from the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and entitled ‘Organised Crime and Drugs in the Sport’.1 As you can imagine, the title focused my attention. There was a startling press conference attended by the Australian Minister for Justice, the Minister for Sport, the Chief Executive Officer of Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and the leaders of the major sporting codes in Australia. To say that the findings of the report were alarming would be an understatement. Among the main conclusions were the following:

• Australian professional athletes, facilitated by sports scientists, coaches and support staff are using prohibited substances including peptides and hormones.

• This behaviour is occurring in a number of professional sporting codes in Australia.

• The use of illicit drugs within some sporting codes is higher than previously recorded.

• Organised crime is involved in the domestic distribution of peptides and hormones.

• There are significant integrity concerns within professional sports in Australia.

• The use of prohibited substances by athletes is leading to an association between professional athletes and criminal identities.

• There is a culture in some professional sports of administering untested and experimental substances to athletes.

• Some sports scientists and medical practitioners are involved in supplying peptides and hormones to athletes.

These revelations rocked the Australian sporting community and have caused significant soul-searching and reflection within sporting organisations, particularly at high-performance level. A number of organisations conducted or are conducting internal reviews of their processes and protocols around the administration of supplements and medications. What was initially perceived as …