Painkillers, the dark side of sports

But it's the drugs that athletes get from outside sources, such as roommates, friends or on the Internet, that fuel misuse.

"I'm sure that happens more than we realize," said Bean, a 31-year veteran at Utah.

U. sports medicine doctors studied pain medication use among collegiate club-level volleyball players in Salt Lake City for a tournament last year. Some of the results were eye-opening, said state epidemiologist Porucznik, who headed the study.

"The most surprising thing was among athletes who reported injuries that season. People taking prescription pain medications were less likely to have seen a doctor for that injury than people not taking prescription drugs," she said.

In fact, the study found 61 percent using prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs without consulting a doctor.

That means those players were getting the pills somewhere other than from doctors, most likely from teammates or buying them on the street or online.

Not only are they risking further injury but the possibility of fatally overdosing.

"The big message is that athletes are self-medicating, and team physicians and athletic trainers need to keep in close contact with the athletes," Porucznik said.

Training staffs also should talk to athletes about the safe use of medications, the study concluded.

All college and university athletic programs hold annual drug education seminars. While athletes are warned about the evils of steroids and street drugs, prescription pain medication isn't discussed much.

"Pain pill addiction? No, they really don't touch it," Amos said. "That's part of making sure those guys perform. They don't see the potential risk for addiction."

The NCAA did add Amos to its health and safety speakers grant list, which provides money to schools for drug and alcohol education.

"I believe eventually this is gong to be part of everyone's program, but it takes knocking down a lot of doors," Amos said.

The U. holds a student-athlete conference at the beginning of each fall semester. Guest speakers the past two years addressed alcohol and drug abuse, but not painkillers specifically.

"We do a little bit on that. I mean, we talked about it. Not really heavily," said Mary Bowman, U. associate athletics director for student-athlete support services. "We probably need to talk more about prescription medications, the opiates, painkillers."

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