Cornes: How much more evidence before AFL changes sham drug policy?

I’ve been a critic of the illicit drug policy for some time now, it's a sham and a joke and it needs serious rethinking.

There is no disincentive for players not to engage with this, there needs to be a stronger deterrent for players to stop taking the mickey out of the drug policy.

I don’t think we’re doing enough; it is comical. How much more evidence do we need for the AFL and the AFLPA to do something serious about this?

We are not the rest of the community; we are professional athletes that should be setting a better example. We’re in the public eye. If the rest of society gets rushed to hospital, they’re not on the front page of the newspaper the next morning like Will Hayward is today.

Players are public figures.

I’m not saying that if someone tests positive for illicit drugs that we sack them, but there has got to be more than you just remain anonymous; there is zero deterrent for players to be caught and they know that. They know they can self-report and there won’t be any ramifications.

Under a proper policy these players would be tested straight away; there would be avenues to have them tested.

I get tired of it.

I would be pretty angry if I was Patrick Cripps or Jacob Weitering, desperate to win a premiership and you're seeing teammates putting themselves in this position at 5:15 on a Sunday morning even though it’s the off season.

I’d also be a little bit concerned if I was Cody Walker’s parents; wondering what sort of environment my 18-year-old son is about to be drafted into.

I’m not saying Carlton is the only club that has this issue, but I wouldn’t be thrilled about it if it was my son.

The only way they can be caught and face ramifications is under a different policy and that’s a performance enhancing policy.

That’s the only risk players have when it comes to taking illicit drugs, otherwise you can do anything you want as long as you don’t test positive on game day.

Carlton will protect these players, the AFLPA will protect players in similar situations. It’s frustrating, nothing changes ever.