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. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.