NEWS: 30/08/07 Joey Johns Caught With Ecstasy

[nabollocks]

He was a great player... he will be a great support to the team... he takes e.... woopy fucking do. At least he isnt into alcohol and destroying his liver... give the man a break!

 

[tapout]

Read some of the comments on the Telegraphs webpage, all fairly typical responses from the public, but what is amazing is just how many people are confusing the issue with performance enhancing drugs, fairly certain that having a pill on the weekend isnt going to increase your skills on the field. Its like people hear the word "drug" and instantly switch off to all other information regarding the story, it's quite amazing as it reveals just how ill informed the general public is to the whole drugs issue 8)

 

[Verybuffed]

It was interesting that around 3pm yesterday all the stories about Johns "disappeared" from Ninemsn. What station is the football on?

How many more similar confessions is it going to take before the Australian public are able to reach a more mature understanding of drug use in this country. How widespread it truly is in some circles and how, if all the anti-drug propaganda is to be believed, can people who are doing something so awful to their bodies continue to excel at such an elite level of sport for so long?

That is one of the best statements I have ever read.

 

[hoptis]

ARL rejects Tallis drug claim
September 02, 2007 11:31am

ARL chief executive Geoff Carr has rejected suggestions that Gorden Tallis made a formal complaint about drug use by several Australian players, including Andrew Johns, during the 2000 World Cup.

Carr's comments are at odds with the then Kangaroos coach Chris Anderson, who has told Fairfax newspapers that former international Tallis lodged the complaint after Australia won the 2000 Cup in England.

Anderson accused ARL powerbrokers of taking no action about the drugs issues.

The Australian Rugby League boss said he knew of rumours about drug taking, which were investigated, but found to be completely baseless.

"He (Tallis) didn't make any complaint to us,'' Carr told the ABC.

"We heard rumours in 2000 about drug allegations after the tour was over, well after the tour.

"We investigated those as best we could.

"There were quite a number of drug tests taken on that tour, they were all negative, no one came forward to us so on the basis that we had no real evidence we couldn't substantiate the rumours.

"If we would have had evidence of anybody, anybody at all on that tour we would've acted, there is no doubt,'' he said.

"It is one of the worst things as far we're concerned in any sport is drugs in sport but you can't blame someone or act on anything without appropriate evidence, and we never had it.''

Anderson also said: "The game's done Andrew Johns a great disservice. The game has known what was going on for a long time, it's endemic. But it did nothing about it.''

Johns shocked the rugby league world this week when he admitted to being in the grips of drugs and alcohol for the majority of his playing career over the past 10 years.

The retired NRL star's revelations came after he was arrested in London on Sunday with an ecstasy tablet in his pocket.

News.com.au

 

[hoptis]

Rudd wants national drug program in sport
02/09/07

Federal Opposition leader Kevin Rudd has weighed into the drugs-in-sports debate, by calling for a national testing regime for all sports.

His comments follow rugby league star Andrew Johns' admission that he used recreational drugs during his career.

Mr Rudd says if it is to be effective, a drug-testing scheme needs to be the same for all sports.

"If we are serious about this I think [we need] a national approach, uniformity across the sports, an agency that can assist in doing that and most importantly the funding to make it work," he said.

"I think that's where the national debate should go."

ABC News

 

[certified_bomb]

He was a great player... he will be a great support to the team... he takes e.... woopy fucking do. At least he isnt into alcohol and destroying his liver... give the man a break!

He also admitted to having a alcohol problem

 

[Splatt]

Alcohol would make him wanna do drugs.

Like 80% of the population in nightclubs.

Ive sene the straightest anti drug motherf**kers ever ask me for pills in a club as soon as they';ve had a few "hardcore" smirnoff blacks.

 

[static_mind]

Did anyone read the paper and some of the people writeing in? They say things like they wish Joey had been caught in Bali and other crap like that. I think out of 8 shown only 1 was more akin to our views....I just can't remember what it said.

 

[nabollocks]

Apparently he is bipolar or something like that...and the E use was because of that... ctm You can always find an excuse hey... good on him.

 

[ayjay]

THE televised confession by Rugby League champion Andrew Johns of years of regular drug use closely follows news of the drug use of AFL footballers.

Shock waves have spread across the general community. What impact will this drug use by supposed role models have on those who look up to them?

I have been in an extremely privileged position over the past decade or so.

Almost every week I have been asked to speak to school communities about alcohol and other drug issues.

To me, as a drug educator, the Johns confession creates a whole range of new challenges, particularly regarding ecstasy.

The Federal Government has spent millions of dollars on an illegal drugs campaign that focuses on the harm associated with drug use.

But Andrew Johns appears to have suffered very few, if any, significant health problems.

Too many ecstasy users already believe their drug of choice is relatively benign, and the Johns affair will not have altered that belief.

We know this attitude can lead to young people taking unnecessary risks and can result in significant problems in some cases.

Of course, my biggest concern is with the very young.

We know that the risks increase the younger you start using a drug.

But, while it has always been difficult to sell a credible, negative health message about ecstasy to teenagers, now it's almost impossible.

On one hand, we have the disturbing image in the Government's anti-drug campaign of a young man in a body bag.

On the other, we have a highly successful, wealthy and apparently healthy football hero admitting to regularly using a drug we are attempting to show is dangerous.

There is clearly a mixed message. Which do you think will be accepted by those at risk of becoming drug users?

I had a sleepless night after I watched the Andrew Johns interview.

There is also the continuing issue of the medical records of drug use by AFL footballers being broadcast on television.

I had to speak to a group of year 11 students the morning after the Johns confession and was trying to work out what I was going to say to them if the issue came up.

I finally settled on the take-home message as being the social impact on someone caught using an illegal drug such as ecstasy.

I would tell these students that from now on Andrew Johns would be known as the "footballer who took ecstasy".

He would carry this black mark regardless of his past sporting achievements and whatever he might do in the future.

The impact upon his family, his friends, his teammates and his sport would also have to be taken into account.

In a radio interview that morning, I was asked what my message was going to be.

When I told the presenter, she said she didn't think it would work. She said she just didn't buy it.

Of course, as I imagined, the Johns confession came up when I was at the school. Three students came up to me after my talk and asked me what I thought about it.

They had obviously had contact with ecstasy and they used the confession to support their belief that ecstasy use was relatively harmless, particularly when compared with alcohol.

When I raised my argument of its social impact, I found the radio interviewer was right. These young people didn't buy it either.

We have to be very careful about normalising drug use.

Media coverage of drug use continues to focus on "those that do use" rather than on the vast majority who never have.

Unfortunately, Johns' admission has helped confirm what many people already believe: drug use is out of control and everyone does it.

If you live in Sydney or Melbourne, or any other city around the country, you may be regularly exposed to ecstasy.

Drug use has become widespread, but even though it may appear that ecstasy is everywhere, research shows it is primarily used by those in the nightclub and dance scene.

When it comes to helping parents with the issue of alcohol and other drugs, we usually say things like, "talk to your kids".

But, it's a throwaway line that is pretty much useless unless you know what you are talking about.

Giving young people information that is credible and is not being contradicted by high-profile sportsmen is proving to be increasingly difficult.

PAUL DILLON runs Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia

From here

 

[ayjay]

Frankly I'm disappointed:

But, while it has always been difficult to sell a credible, negative health message about ecstasy to teenagers, now it's almost impossible.

If it's to be credible, it can't be all negative. Check this abstract:

Erasing pleasure from public discourse on illicit drugs: On the creation and reproduction of an absence. In 1988, sociologist Stephen Mugford argued that the dominant framework in the drugs field was the 'pathology paradigm' and that, as a consequence, considerations of 'pleasure' in relation to drug use were marginalised. As Mugford noted, an understanding of the subjective motives for drug use, including pleasure, is an essential part of any coherent response. Twenty years on, it appears that little has changed. In this paper, I consider some of the processes that may have contributed to the ongoing absence of discourses of pleasure in the drugs field. The paper is divided into three sections. In the first, following Bourdieu, I focus on drug research as a 'social field', arguing that power relations between research disciplines work against considerations of pleasure, and that researching pleasure does not generate useful forms of research capital. Second, I argue that harm reduction policy and practice, in its construction of a neo-liberal drug-using subject, limits opportunities for considering the role of pleasure in drug use. The final section explores the broader historical and contemporary context for drug research, policy and practice by considering the discursive formations that contribute to the legitimacy granted to particular forms of pleasure in the privileging of a 'civilised' body over a 'grotesque' body.

from here

 

[hoptis]

Well said ayjay, I read that article while waiting for a haircut an hour ago and was wondering what people here might have to say about it. Though it should be said, how far do you think Paul Dillon would get if he started talking about positive aspects of ecstasy use to schoolchildren?

 

[ayjay]

Yeah point taken - but I guess it begs the question - who is going to drive public discourse on the positive aspects of drug taking - and being a drug taker?

Should we be thinking of being a drug taker in the same (political) way as, say, being gay 20 or 30 years ago? Is drug use the dirty little secret that no-one wants to talk about - "don't ask - don't tell"? Is what happened to Johns no different to the "outing" of prominent figures as part of the gay liberation movement? Should we stand up & be counted, or should we keep our heads down?

Or should I just stfu and get back to work

 

[IWoody]

Being from newcastle...

his whole confession thing was only because it would of hit the media a LOT harder if he didn't...

too many camera phones, stories and survalience/security guards looking for a few ACA $$$$( no sorry ch7 today tonight)

but he has some pretty bad stories out there..

 

[hoptis]

Drug arrest was a kick in pants, says Johns
By Liam FitzGibbon
November 13, 2007 12:24pm

BEING arrested for possession of ecstasy in a London tube station was the kick in the pants he needed, says league great Andrew Johns.

Johns stunned the rugby league world in August when he admitted to long-term drug and alcohol abuse and revealed an ongoing struggle with depression and bipolar disorder.

Johns went public with the problems after he was arrested for possession of an ecstasy tablet outside a London tube station.

The former halfback, who last week released his autobiography The Two of Me, said today the ordeal had been a blessing in disguise.

"I feel so much better now," said the newly married Johns, who revealed in his book he considered taking his own life on more than one occasion during the scandal.

"I feel like my well-being has gone through the roof, also I've sort of turned my lifestyle around and that's helped too," Johns said on Sydney radio station 2KY.

"Ever since the incident in London, I've really turned things around.

"My self-worth has gone through the roof, I feel so much better about myself and really, I have no secrets so I'm carrying no guilt around. It was the kick in the pants I needed.

"I needed to hit that rock bottom and that public humiliation to turn my life around. I'm over it now and this year will be a turning point in my life."

Johns said he'd had more professional help for his problems.

Often described as the world's best player during his career, he admitted in August that he turned to drugs and alcohol to cope with the pressure of being such a high-profile footballer.

"It was awful because people were putting me on this pedestal and I knew I didn't deserve to be up there," Johns said today.

"So it just used to crush me. I felt like I really overachieved and still when people say where my standing is in the game and that, it's really uncomfortable for me to listen to."

Johns said he hoped his book would encourage others, particularly teenagers, to seek help if they needed it.

"Hopefully they can read this book and identify with me and get some inspiration from it," he said.

Johns will work as a halves coach with Parramatta pair Tim Smith and Brett Finch next season and said today he was also in talks with another NRL club about a similar role.

News.com.au