Community Sports Drug Policy Odyssey How community sports clubs deal with illegal drugs Intro Acknowledge co-authors Sports members demographic peak age of illegal drug use Sports clubs concerned with members health Broad sweep of age gender occupation – typical of community Rare community setting for education and prevention Address community concerns Authors: Geoffrey Munro, Dr Shauna Sherker and Ginette Anile

Good Sports -sport as the hook- Local sports clubs are often the heartbeat of a community and they have potential to act as a progressive force in AOD prevention It has been sports clubs around Australia that have been the platform for the successful community program Good Sports. Good Sports is the ADF’s multi-award winning, effective program that helps to make community sports clubs healthier, safer and more family friendly places. Since its inception over 10 years ago, the Good Sports program has led sporting clubs to control the use of alcohol and reduce their risk of experiencing alcohol related problems In June this year results of a randomised control trial were released which concluded that Good Sports is the only community program in the world proven to reduce the likelihood of risky drinking by 37% and the risk of alcohol-related harm to club member by 42% In recent times clubs have increasingly sought assistance in being better informed about illicit drugs, including amphetamine-type stimulants Therefore, the ADF has extended the reach of Good Sports by building the capacity of sports clubs to become leaders in drug prevention for their communities and specifically how ice and other drug related issues can be dealt with by the sports clubs. The vehicle for this component has been a series of Ice Forums which have been held across Victoria. The forums have ultimately communicated the importance of a sporting club developing an Illegal Drug Policy to support clubs and community members if (or when) a drug incident arises.

Ice and illegal drugs forums -background and aim- Between late 2014 and early 2015 19 Ice Forums were held in regional and rural areas across Victoria with a variety of community members in attendance. The forums were facilitated by the ADF in collaboration with: Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS), Victoria Police and local AoD agencies and lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The primary aim of the ice forums was to: Provide information on Ice and other drugs; Communicate the Guide to Developing an Illegal Drugs Policy (see slide); and Provide information on how Good Sports clubs can deal with any drug related issues through the development of an illegal drugs policy plan to sports clubs and community members. The aim of the policy is to: Specify how ice and their drug related issues will be dealt with by the club; Provide clear expectations on club members and players on drug-related issues; Build the confidence of club leaders and members to manage and support drug-related issues; Provide ongoing support to community sporting clubs and build a community practice; and Help build the capacity of sports clubs to become leaders in drug prevention for their communities. The ADF were instrumental in generating interest in local communities for each forum. The forums were promoted within each local community via networks such as: Sports club Local government Local police Health services. Each forum had a healthy attendance rate. Numbers showed that the average turn out across the 19 forum was 75 people.

Ice and illegal drugs forums -methodology- At the end of each forum staff from the ADF distributed a hard-copy feedback form which sought opinions about the forum and general advice to inform the Illegal Drugs Policy Survey results were collated and analysed by ADF research staff and formed the basis for a research report and the results that I am presenting to you today.

Ice and illegal drugs forums -sample size- In total 1,344 people attended the forum – of those 654 completed a feedback form (48.6%) The sample types for this research were categorised into three main groups: Club Committee members Those associated with a sports club such as players, club members, coaches and a number of miscellaneous roles at sports clubs. Those not associated with a sports club such as health workers, community workers members. Involving each of these groups ensured that there was a strong representation from a variety of people associated with a sports clubs or with the community. At times results were presented with a sample breakdown and in other instances the figures were amalgamated. As shown: Of those who completed the feedback form, it was mostly common to be a Club Committee Member (38.%), followed by one associated with a sports club (32.1), followed by not associated with a sports club (29.5%). The following slides present some interesting findings/results from the forum.

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: about our sports club- Those who completed the feedback form were asked if illegal drugs were a problem at their sports club: As you can see from the figure on the right, it was mostly common for Club Committee Members and those associated with a sports club to indicate that illegal drugs were not a problem at their sports club (36.7% and 41.0% respectively) Almost one-quarter (22.7%) of Club Committee Members either agreed or strongly agreed that their sports club had a problem with illegal drugs. One in ten of those associated with a sports club stated the same. Despite some respondents indicating that drugs were a problem at their sporting club, only 14.3% of Club Committee Members and 0.5% of those associated with a sporting club indicated that their club had an illegal drugs policy in place.

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: looking to the future- An overwhelming number of respondents from both groups indicated that their club needs to develop an illegal drug policy. Club Committee Members: 89.1% Associated with a sports club: 77.4%

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: barriers to developing an illegal drug policy- Lack of drug knowledge and understanding how to write the policy Not necessary and not wanted Lack of time to develop the policy Lack of 'buy in‘ and commitment from members/club Lack of internal resources and support Perception of ‘no drug problem at this club’ Despite an overwhelming majority of participants who stated that their club needed to develop a drugs policy, respondents identified barriers that would make it hard for their club to develop this policy. Shown on the slide are the top 6 barriers as identified by respondents: They were: the lack of drug knowledge in order to inform an illegal drugs policy; the belief that the policy is not necessary or wanted/needed within the club; the lack of time to develop the policy; the lack of ‘buy-in’ and commitment from within the club Lack of internal resources and support; and The perception within clubs that a drug problem does not exist

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: enablers to developing an illegal drug policy- Workshops, training, information sessions, presentations and forums The template for policy development Ongoing support via phone calls and emails Examples of good practice from other clubs that have successfully implemented a policy Assistance with legal terms and definitions Support and awareness from local police On the flip side, respondents also nominated a series of enables that would assist them in developing an illegal drugs policy at their club. The top 6 responses were: Workshops/training/information sessions/presentations/forums The template for policy development Ongoing support via blogs, phone calls and emails, Examples of good practice from other clubs that have successfully implemented a policy Assistance with legal terms and definitions Support and awareness from local police

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: looking to the future- Despite some challenges identified by respondents, 84.4% of Club Committee Members and those associated with a sports club stated they were more confident to develop an illegal drug policy as a result of the forum Similarly, 44.1% of the same group indicated that as a result of the forum, their club is likely to develop an illegal drug policy. * Club Committee Members and those associated with a sports club only

Ice and illegal drugs forum -results: looking to the future- Finally, almost 75% of all respondents indicated that they feel more confident to support someone with a drug-related issue after this session (73.4%). Also, 82.6% all respondents stated they were more aware of resources and services to help support someone with a drug-related issue as a result of the forum

Next steps… Good Sports is now working with various sporting bodies to test methods of assisting sports clubs to develop and implement a policy for illegal drugs. It is providing assistance to the Essendon District Football League to guide all 27 clubs that belong to that league to develop a policy over a 3 month period. The advantage of this model is the league requires all constituent clubs to produce a policy at the same time so the clubs can work together and the policy work should be based on a common understanding and the actual policies adopted by the clubs will be similar, if not virtually identical. From the Good Sports perspective this should be a more efficient process than working with individual clubs one by one. In Tasmania Good Sports has been contracted by several state sporting bodies to undertake a similar process of resourcing the leagues and associations to undertake policy development with all their constituent clubs at the same time. Good Sports is preparing to meet with national sporting bodies to investigate the prospect of working on a similar basis across the country.

Thank you and any questions?