Footballers have been warned that taking prescription sleeping pills recreationally could potentially be fatal, with Telegraph Sport learning of one Premier League player seeking professional help for addiction and concerns over another high-profile star.
Sleeping pills mixed with alcohol are the new intoxicant in the party scene for players. They are available from doctors or widely online and do not feature on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.
But there are harmful effects of taking them recreationally according to drug experts, including dependence and overdose.
While pills have been part of football culture to help adrenalin-filled players get to sleep after evening matches, they also give a high when mixed with alcohol. “Before lockdown you would see some players openly popping them in nightclubs or house parties,” said a player representative.
The agent of one player has been warned by worried friends about his client’s use of the prescription pills. And one case has emerged of a player who has sought help to stop taking them.
Despite them not being banned by Wada, there are huge risks with prescription sleeping pills and Sporting Chance, which offers athletes support with drug use, insists their dangers should not be underestimated.
“Historically we have offered support to a wide variety of elite and professional sports players who have presented with dependencies or abusing prescribed medications such as sleeping tablets and painkillers,” said Colin Bland, chief executive of Sporting Chance.
“The dangers of these behaviours are not to be underestimated, particularly when individuals start buying tablets from unreliable sources. We have seen less of this in recent years and to hear that such behaviours may be on the increase again is disturbing. These substances can be highly addictive and very dangerous.”
In the past five years, players have been caught on camera inhaling balloons allegedly containing nitrous oxide. “Laughing gas” is given to dental patients as a painkiller, but is also used as a social drug because of the euphoria it can induce. Sleeping pills, while widely used for their original purpose, are a newly available high.
Paul Merson, the former England midfielder, spoke on television show A League Of Their Own about sharing a flat with Paul Gascoigne and playing a game where they tried to stay awake while drinking red wine and taking sleeping pills. In modern-day use, the concoction produces a deliberate high.
“There is a paradoxical effect, where at the stage before the level of sending you to sleep, your inhibitions go,” said Harry Shapiro, of DrugWise, which publishes evidence-based information on drugs. “Alcohol will do that by itself. But there is a phrase called potentiation, where taking more than one drug ramps up the effects of the other.”
Prescription medications are classified as Class C controlled drugs, with police arrests and potential for prison if caught supplying. But they are easily available online, which Shapiro says is dangerous.
The British Medical Journal has published letters from experts warning against the misuse of sleeping pills and their ready availability on the internet.
“There are plenty of sites which don’t need a prescription or have an online doctor which is like an automated chat,” Shapiro added. “The problem with online is that you might get what it says on the box, you might not. The dosage might be completely different. There are huge dangers buying these things online.
“It is not supposed to be used over the long term because of the sorts of problems you get with these drugs such as tolerance, withdrawal, dependence. There is also a risk of overdose, which will be made worse with drinking alcohol, which is potentially fatal. There is a dose response. The more you take, the more you need to take to get the same effect.”
Shapiro is also wary of the effects of lockdown – on society as well as athletes – and how staying indoors during the pandemic can affect behaviour.
The Professional Footballers’ Association has not been contacted specifically about sleeping pills through its welfare team, but has announced statistics showing nine per cent of a recent survey experiencing difficulties with damaging addictive habits.
Players are provided with general information from the Football Association on what substances they put into their systems, plus educational material on the relevant matters.
One issue is that sleeping pills are not banned by Wada, like other recreational drugs, for which players are banned if they are caught taking them by doping officials. Adrian Mutu, the Chelsea striker, was one of the most high-profile cases when he was given a seven-month ban for taking cocaine.
The FA conducts drug testing “in competition”, when it gets samples post-match, and “out of competition” at training sessions and players’ homes. But this new social trend is not on the radar of testers.
One well-placed source believes clubs should screen players to see if they have taken larger-than-normal quantities of sleeping pills, even if taking them is not against the rules. “Nobody knows the harm it can do to them,” he said. “It is being taken for the buzz, much more than just after matches when players cannot get to sleep.”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com