Citation

Strain EC. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2011; 116(1-3): 8-10.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5510 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.12.004

PMID

21277120

Abstract

The accompanying paper by Cottler et al. reports on findings from a telephone survey study that examined opioid analgesic use and misuse by U.S. professional American football players. The study shows high rates of misuse of these medications, and provides an opportunity to consider the intersection between sports and drug use. While in recent years there has been increasing focus upon the use of performance enhancing drugs (e.g., steroids) in athletes, the present report provides valuable information about a relatively unexplored but important topic: opioid analgesic misuse by athletes. The data provided show that misuse of opioids in this population is cause for concern, suggest that study of other groups of athletes should be undertaken, and that further assessment of opioid use in football players is also needed. The study also provides an opportunity to conceptualize drug (and non-drug) use in athletes, as a means to either return athletic functioning to a previous level of performance, or to enhance functioning. Discussions of drug use in sports need to appreciate the complexity of such use, which can be indicated and appropriate under certain circumstances, but which can also be inappropriate and problematic under others-for example, for drugs such as opioid analgesics.

Language: en