Drug Addiction In Young Athletes & Remedial Measures

Young athletes can suffer drug addiction for several reasons: wanting to relieve stress or taking the edge off the pressure to reach the top level.

According to surveys ⁽¹⁾ conducted by the Digital Citizens Alliance, more than 3/4 of young US athletes feel performance-enhancing drug use in professional sports puts pressure on them to use drugs.

While stimulants such as cocaine, caffeine, and various steroids do provide an adrenaline release of energy, the use is often followed by physical and mental side effects.

According to the Office of Alcohol and Drug Education ⁽²⁾, alcohol intake creates a high in young athletes and relieves stress, but it also reduces athletic endurance and protein synthesis for muscle development.

Other side effects that accompany drug addiction such as aching joints, mood swings, aggressiveness, heart, and liver problems hinder adolescents from living healthy lives. A history of sports careers have been ruined by drug and alcohol use.

Proper prevention, treatment, and recovery techniques need to be implemented to help at-risk young athletes recover from drug addiction. The following are some of the measures to help addicted individuals recover:

Selective Prevention Programs

Selective prevention programs are specifically designed to help prevent young athletes from using drugs whether for recreational use or for performance enhancement during competitions.

These programs offer various benefits such as counseling sessions, drug awareness, group therapy, coping techniques, life skills training, social influence, and peer resistance skills training to individuals in need.

Parents and school coaches are also advised to join these programs to better aid adolescents recover from drug addiction by providing much-needed support. As drug addiction and mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD, etc. are co-occurring, it’s important for parental bodies to keep an eye out and provide at-risk youths the attention they require.

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There are different types of drug and alcohol interventions which you can find in your local recovery centers but Selective Prevention Programs also offer a mentoring system. Being mentored by an athlete who achieved success without the use of drugs encourages young sportsmen to do the same.

Self-awareness programs & resources

These programs provide a medically informed approach to addiction treatment. Athletes undertaking these programs will increase their knowledge regarding drug and alcohol use. Students are provided the opportunity to learn about strategies, set future goals, and reflect on their present choices.

Athletes can also read about drug use effects and recovery options in the free resources published by leading treatment centers. La Paloma, for example, provides an extensive guide ⁽³⁾ on the length of time that drugs can stay in an athlete’s system.

Resources also provide information about different types of drug tests to trace whether an athlete has consumed drugs for a different amount of time. For example, Urine tests differ depending on the half-life of the drug but can detect drugs for about two to four days.

Underlying mental illness

Drug abuse and mental illness may co-occur following drug use. Athletes undergoing recovery programs receive comprehensive rehabilitation and treatment for physical injuries but their underlying mental illness might be neglected or taken as a weakness, which can have dire consequences.

As a result, co-diagnosis is recommended during recovery programs as drug abuse could be related to mental illness such as anxiety, depression, anger issues, etc. Professional medical help is also important in such cases which includes pharmacologic interventions such as acamprosate, naltrexone or disulfiram for alcohol dependence, or buprenorphine for opiate-dependent individuals.
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