DRUG MEDALS

There is no doubt - unlike Mr Samaranch's equivocations - where the
president of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, stands on the
issue of illegal drugs in sport.

Mr Coates wants the penalties for using and dealing in non-medical steroids
increased to match those for heroin trafficking. This AOC initiative
requires the intervention of the various governments in Australia. Mr
Coates has written to the premiers and the Prime Minister asking them to
enforce a legislative framework to his proposal.

The testy reaction of the Justice Minister, Senator Vanstone, suggests that
Mr Coates may have gazumped the Federal Government on this matter of
delegitimising steroid use.

Mr Coates argues that the level of non-medical anabolic steroid use in
Australia is more widespread than the use of heroin and cocaine. Australian
laws, though, do not reflect this level of use. The maximum fine for the
illegal importation of anabolic steroids worth $900,000 is only $5,000. Mr
Coates makes the valid point that "penalties should be raised to reflect
the serious and damaging nature of these drugs". It is difficult to argue
against the need for fines for the importation of these drugs to be
significantly increased.

But whether the illegal importation and use of anabolic steroids should be
subjected to the full rigour of the criminal laws relating to heroin and
cocaine is a matter that must involve a profound debate within Australia.
The call for such a debate is not a way of avoiding confronting the
significant issue Mr Coates has raised.

But the community needs to be sure that imposing jail terms for users and
dealers of steroids, for other than medical purposes, is the best way to
ensure the abolition of their use. The effectiveness of the criminal
sanctions imposed on heroin and cocaine remains a matter of dispute by the
experts.

What is needed from the Federal Government, immediately, is the
re-establishment of the Customs units that were successful in keeping
illegal anabolic steroids out of Australia. The increased use of
non-medical anabolic steroids has coincided with a greatly reduced Customs
surveillance. Mr Coates is right, too, to insist that athletes who return
positive tests to banned drugs must pay back all their funding. The odds on
being caught and the punishments clearly need to be tightened and
toughened.

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson