The Hidden Truth About Cocaine in Sports and Its Impact on Athletes
As I was reviewing the latest sports news this morning, I stumbled upon that telling statement from the PBA about Justin Brownlee's situation, and it got me thinking about the broader context of substance use in professional sports. Having worked closely with athletic organizations for over a decade, I've seen firsthand how the conversation around performance-enhancing drugs often overlooks one particularly insidious substance: cocaine. Let me be clear from the outset—I believe cocaine represents one of the most misunderstood and under-addressed threats to athlete welfare and competitive integrity today.
The recent PBA situation where officials noted they hadn't received any notice about changing imports, suggesting Brownlee might still play, highlights how sports organizations sometimes operate in gray areas regarding substance-related matters. In my consulting work, I've observed that cocaine use among athletes presents a unique challenge—it's not typically considered a performance-enhancer in the traditional sense, yet its impact can be devastating. Unlike systematic doping programs, cocaine use often occurs recreationally, creating a dangerous paradox where athletes might be using substances that actually impair their performance while still violating anti-doping policies. The World Anti-Doping Agency reports approximately 120-150 positive cocaine tests annually across all sports, but I suspect the actual usage rates are significantly higher based on what I've witnessed behind the scenes.
What troubles me most is how cocaine's social perception contradicts its athletic impact. I've attended enough post-game parties and social events to see how casually some athletes approach this substance, not realizing how it undermines their careers. Physiologically, cocaine creates a deceptive sense of energy and confidence while actually decreasing coordination, reaction time, and decision-making ability—the very attributes that define elite athletic performance. A 2021 study tracking 450 professional athletes found that those testing positive for cocaine showed a 17% decrease in performance metrics compared to their clean counterparts. Yet the perception persists that it's a "recreational" substance rather than a performance-destroying one.
The organizational response to cocaine incidents often reveals troubling inconsistencies. When I see statements like the PBA's carefully worded notice about Brownlee, I recognize the delicate balancing act sports organizations face between enforcement and preservation of talent. In my experience, leagues frequently struggle with addressing cocaine use because it doesn't fit neatly into the "performance-enhancement" narrative that drives most anti-doping education. This creates a dangerous loophole where athletes might underestimate the seriousness of cocaine use while organizations hesitate to implement the same rigorous testing protocols applied to steroids or other PEDs.
Looking at the broader picture, I've come to believe we need a fundamental shift in how sports institutions approach cocaine education and testing. The current system focuses too much on punishment and not enough on understanding why highly disciplined athletes turn to a substance that ultimately hurts their performance. From working directly with athletes struggling with substance issues, I've found that cocaine use often correlates with pressure management difficulties and the transition from competition to social settings. We need more comprehensive testing—not just competition testing but intelligent out-of-competition programs that acknowledge when athletes are most vulnerable to substance use.
Ultimately, the hidden truth about cocaine in sports extends far beyond failed tests and suspensions. It's about how we've created sporting environments where some athletes feel compelled to use substances that sabotage their abilities while organizations struggle with inconsistent enforcement. The solution isn't just better testing—it's creating sports cultures where athletes don't feel the need to escape through substances that ultimately destroy what they've worked so hard to build. As the PBA situation reminds us, the line between eligibility and suspension often hangs on administrative notices and technicalities, when what we really need is a more honest conversation about why cocaine continues to find its way into sports.
We are shifting fundamentally from historically being a take, make and dispose organisation to an avoid, reduce, reuse, and recycle organisation whilst regenerating to reduce our environmental impact. We see significant potential in this space for our operations and for our industry, not only to reduce waste and improve resource use efficiency, but to transform our view of the finite resources in our care.
Looking to the Future
By 2022, we will establish a pilot for circularity at our Goonoo feedlot that builds on our current initiatives in water, manure and local sourcing. We will extend these initiatives to reach our full circularity potential at Goonoo feedlot and then draw on this pilot to light a pathway to integrating circularity across our supply chain.
The quality of our product and ongoing health of our business is intrinsically linked to healthy and functioning ecosystems. We recognise our potential to play our part in reversing the decline in biodiversity, building soil health and protecting key ecosystems in our care. This theme extends on the core initiatives and practices already embedded in our business including our sustainable stocking strategy and our long-standing best practice Rangelands Management program, to a more a holistic approach to our landscape.
We are the custodians of a significant natural asset that extends across 6.4 million hectares in some of the most remote parts of Australia. Building a strong foundation of condition assessment will be fundamental to mapping out a successful pathway to improving the health of the landscape and to drive growth in the value of our Natural Capital.
Our Commitment
We will work with Accounting for Nature to develop a scientifically robust and certifiable framework to measure and report on the condition of natural capital, including biodiversity, across AACo’s assets by 2023. We will apply that framework to baseline priority assets by 2024.
Looking to the Future
By 2030 we will improve landscape and soil health by increasing the percentage of our estate achieving greater than 50% persistent groundcover with regional targets of:
– Savannah and Tropics – 90% of land achieving >50% cover
– Sub-tropics – 80% of land achieving >50% perennial cover
– Grasslands – 80% of land achieving >50% cover
– Desert country – 60% of land achieving >50% cover
