 The Australian Government Solicitator has ruled that a secret pilot program involving the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and Medicare was illegal. ASADA had been reviewing government Medicare prescription records and cross-referencing them with names of athletes in an effort to catch athletes using prohibited substances. Not surprisingly to anyone, the Government Solicitator determined that ASADA illegally violated athlete privacy and doctor-patient confidentiality (“Secret athlete drug probe ‘illegal’, says Government Solicitor,” May 20).
An ASADA spokesperson was unapologetic about the illegality of their methods and privacy issues involved. After all, the ASADA illegal invasion of medical privacy program was a “world first” and apparently justified because it was “aimed at catching drug cheats who might otherwise escape detection.”
The spokesperson even bragged that they were deserving of an apology for the “embarrassment” and “difficult position” placed on ASADA by revelations of the illegal program.
ASADA continues to work with Customs and other agencies including the Australian Federal Police, but has now been forced to scrap the pilot program. It was a world first and part of a suite of measures aimed at catching drug cheats who might otherwise escape detection.
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Insisting ASADA had acted in good faith, the ASADA spokeswoman said the agency had received an apology from the AGS “for any embarrassment and for the difficult position in which this has placed ASADA”.
Sometimes people within anti-doping agencies feel their moral authority justifies their unfair, and sometimes illegal, persecution of athletes in their pursuit of integrity in sports.
 Kate Ellis, the new Australian Sports Minister, was considerably more reasonable in her comments to the press, acknowledging the anti-doping agencies must also play by the rules too.
Ms Ellis, who spoke at a meeting of world anti-doping investigators in Sydney recently, at which ASADA is understood to have outlined its methods, said the fight against performance-enhancing drugs needed to be tough but fair.
“If athletes are drug cheats then we will use every fair and legal avenue to ensure they get caught and appropriately sanctioned,” Ms Ellis said.Â
The U.S. federal and state government witch hunt targeting steroids users and steroid distributors has reached levels of absurdity. Can it get worse? Yes. Australia offers insight into radical governmental efforts at cracking down on athletes who use anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (“Secret Anti-Doping Probe,” March 14).
The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) has secretly been reviewing government Medicare prescription records and cross-referencing them with names of athletes in an effort to catch athletes using prohibited substances.
But the Medicare trial is likely to be controversial, given doctor-patient confidentiality and the fact it involves drugs that only athletes are banned from using.
ASADA chairman Richard Ings yesterday confirmed the trial had taken place, but declined to say how many athletes’ records had been accessed, how the information was able to be shared, or what action would be taken for any breaches.
Mr Ings said the trial was within the bounds of ASADA and Medicare legislation and the Privacy Act and that the authority had sought the advice of the Australian Government Solicitor.
The Australian efforts at catching steroid-using athletes have almost assumed the importance of national security issues with concerted intelligence gathering procedures.
Mr Ings said ASADA had to go beyond just testing athletes and would work with any agency or organisation to crack down on drugs in sport.
“Testing alone just scratches the surface,” he said.
ASADA now collects more intelligence on drug cheats, conducts targeted operations, and tries to predict the likelihood of certain athletes using performance-enhancing drugs.
Australia is not satisfied with merely catching athletes who have committed “sports fraud” crimes. They have taken it a step further and hope to predict future anabolic steroid use in athletes! “Excuse me sir, but you have been disqualified because psychological tests indicate that there is a high probability that you may use steroids in the future.”
Using this practice to target specific athletes will lead to discriminatory abuse.
