What's happening with the AFL's new Illicit Drugs Policy?

The issue of Illicit Drugs Policy (IDP) reform in the AFL remains in limbo after seven months of waiting and increasing scrutiny of the parties involved, and no clear sense of when it might be resolved.

An in-principle agreement for a new policy was announced in March by the AFL in conjunction with the AFL Players Association but is yet to be implemented.

The AFL and AFLPA said it would be the "toughest in Australian sport" and become operational in 2026 once outstanding matters had been resolved.

The policy is in the news now because of allegations of drug use by the so-called "Pullman Five"; five Sydney Swans players involved in the Pullman Hotel scandal in August.

Last weekend Advanced Life Support paramedics attended a house owned by a Carlton player.

There is no suggestion any of the Carlton players were using illicit drugs.

So what is the current state of play, and what is the plan for the future?

What is the current AFL Illicit Drugs Policy?

The IDP was first established in 2005 and was, according to the AFL, "unashamedly a harm minimisation policy".

Players caught breaching the IDP are subject to a three-strike system.

If a player is caught with drugs in their system for the first time, they are given a suspended $5,000 fine and will receive targeted testing and counselling. The club doctor is the only staff member informed of the player's drug use.

A second strike means the player will be named and suspended for four games.

A third strike results in a 12-match suspension. Travis Tuck in 2010 is the only player to have ever recorded three strikes.

Most players who are caught using drugs in public or through social media, such as Bailey Smith (when he was at the Bulldogs), are generally suspended under the AFL's "conduct unbecoming" rules.

The policy has come under enormous criticism in the two decades it has been in place, most notably by independent senator Andrew Wilkie, who denounced the policy in a speech to federal parliament in 2024.

Wilkie alleged AFL club doctors were doing secret off-the-books drug testing to help players avoid failing match day tests.

What is the proposed new policy?

When the AFL and Players' Association announced the new policy in March they said it would strengthen "the game's response to illicit drug use across both the AFL and AFLW competitions".

The organisations maintained the policy was based on medical advice for players' health and wellbeing.

When in place, the new policy will see all AFL and AFLW players undergo annual education programs and have a hair sample tested twice a year for evidence of drug use.

Hair samples retain evidence of drug use for up to three months whereas the urine samples, which are currently used, may only show evidence of drug use for a handful of days.

It's expected the players will be tested during the pre-season in order to cover the period when they're on leave and then again following their mid-season bye.

If a player tests positive, they will enter a behavioural change program overseen by their club doctor.

If a player records a second positive test, they'll be put on an individual management plan which will be overseen by an AFL IDP manager.

A third positive test will see the player referred to a Fitness to Play assessment by an independent panel and at that point the club president, chief executive and general manager of football would be informed.

Players who use illicit drugs publicly will be suspended for two to four weeks.

So, what's happened?

Seven months after the AFL and Player's Association announced an in-principle agreement to the policy, it still hasn't been put into place.

ABC Sport understands there are still points of disagreement between the two bodies.

The outstanding matters include designing the education program and the behavioural change program for players who are found with drugs in their system, and the appointments to a joint committee to oversee the program.

Until the new program is in place, the old system will continue to operate.

ABC Sport has asked the AFL and the AFLPA why the current policy was not in place, when it's expected to begin and who, if anyone, has been employed to run the program?

The AFL didn't respond to those questions, and the Players' Association declined to comment.