Drugs in sport – when do they become an issue for the police?

That is the focus of one workshop at this year’s event. Its main purpose is to underline the police-related issues that are associated with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

“One of the issues with steroids is that they are a class C drug for importation or supply purposes, but not for possession when in the form of a medicinal produce,” said Commander Simon Bray, Met Police.

“Officers often find that when they contact the CPS, they are sometimes told that you can`t prosecute for possession with intent to supply – a large seizure of steroids, for example – when the offence of possession effectively doesn’t exist.”

However, steroid seizures are frequently part of a mixed haul of class A drugs and other substances such as Viagra – either counterfeit or genuine.

“Further clarity around the law would assist. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is currently examining steroids and may make recommendations in the near future.”

Another issue is the proximity of the 2012 Olympics. The Beijing games were not plagued by doping failures but this is partly because a number of countries were strict in their pre-games testing. This may not, at first sight, seem like a policing issue per se.

“However,” said Cmdr Bray, “a number of European countries do criminalise possession of doping products and police forces there do have powers of entry, search and seizure, which are not available in the UK.

“Indeed, the UK has decided not to criminalise sports people (or others) for possession of the majority of performance enhancing substances. In the UK, there may however be police interest where there is potentially an organised nature to the use of such substances, linked in with criminal acts or conspiracies.

“Betting scams are another possibility. Moreover, there remains the issue of what happens to elite athletes who use class A drugs like cocaine, as has happened with professional footballers and tennis players, resulting in bans but rarely prosecutions.”

ACPO has been involved in work to assist the UK Sport organisation in the setting up of a national anti-doping organisation (NADO).

“We see the benefits of there being a central gate-keeping function, which would filter information shared between police forces and the NADO, alongside protocols for when information/intelligence should be shared and, where justified, subsequent investigation of any criminal offences.”

The workshop will discuss the potential issues for the NADO, consider the police role and secondly it will touch on the law enforcement and social harms associated with steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. It will look beyond the world of elite sport and look as issues centred around gyms, young people, criminality and law enforcement.