Australia Accused as Major Supplier of Sport Drugs
May 20, 1998 - 0:0
SYDNEY - Australia was identified as a major supplier of a new breed of undetectable sports drugs in a damning report released this week, the Sydney Morning Herald said Tuesday. Australian customs service inspector Craig Fleming made the claim following a 17-week investigation into the use and trafficking of anabolic steroids, and said Australia's reputation as a serious source of illegal sports drugs is growing.
There is widespread belief among knowing people that the games in Sydney are expected to be the dirtiest in the record of Olympic sport, Fleming said. Just days ago, two New Zealanders were caught attempting to export 900, 000 Australian dollars worth of the steroids proviron and methenolene through Melbourne Airport, bound for New Zealand athletes. They were fined 5, 000 Australian dollars.
In his report, Fleming identified a number of weaknesses in the Australian drug detection system including; a lack of export control, and an attitude that drug testing was the first line of defence, when really it is the last in a long line. Drug testing merely proves the use of a prohibited substance that must have been obtained unlawfully by definition and in all probability was criminally obtained, he said.
As part of his research, Fleming investigated the experiences of U.S. customs officials during the Atlanta Olympic games in 1996 with a massive number of steroid seizures estimated to be worth more that 1 billion U.S. dollars. He said a former Olympic medallist told him that 50 per cent of all Olympic athletes had taken some form of perfomance-enhancing drugs during their training.
(DPA)
There is widespread belief among knowing people that the games in Sydney are expected to be the dirtiest in the record of Olympic sport, Fleming said. Just days ago, two New Zealanders were caught attempting to export 900, 000 Australian dollars worth of the steroids proviron and methenolene through Melbourne Airport, bound for New Zealand athletes. They were fined 5, 000 Australian dollars.
In his report, Fleming identified a number of weaknesses in the Australian drug detection system including; a lack of export control, and an attitude that drug testing was the first line of defence, when really it is the last in a long line. Drug testing merely proves the use of a prohibited substance that must have been obtained unlawfully by definition and in all probability was criminally obtained, he said.
As part of his research, Fleming investigated the experiences of U.S. customs officials during the Atlanta Olympic games in 1996 with a massive number of steroid seizures estimated to be worth more that 1 billion U.S. dollars. He said a former Olympic medallist told him that 50 per cent of all Olympic athletes had taken some form of perfomance-enhancing drugs during their training.
(DPA)