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.