New sleep drug ban for Aussie Olympians

The Australian Olympic Committee says athletes will be banned from taking sleeping drugs from the time they're selected on the national team.

Australia's Olympians will be banned from taking sleeping drugs once they're on the national team. (AAP)

Australia's Olympic athletes must agree to having their bags searched by team officials, who have introduced a new ban on sleeping drugs.

Australian athletes have been banned from taking sleeping medication from the time they're selected on an Olympic team.

Previously, athletes were banned from using drugs such as Stilnox for three weeks before a Games.

All athletes selected for next year's Rio Olympics must agree to the ban - and sign an agreement permitting team officials to search their bags or other possessions in the Olympic village.

If they don't agree, athletes could be expelled from the team and deemed ineligible for future Olympics.

The move comes after the sleeping drug Stilnox was central to controversy within Australia's swim team at the 2012 London Olympics.

Five swimmers admitted using the drug at a pre-Games camp, weeks after the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) had banned the medication.

Separately, swimmer Grant Hackett has told of his past addiction to Stilnox.

AOC chief executive Fiona de Jong says the new, extended ban would give athletes time to wean themselves off any hypnotic medication well before the Rio Olympics.

"First and foremost, we banned Stilnox before the London Games because of serious concerns for the welfare of the athletes," de Jong said on Friday in a statement.

"We felt then we had an obligation to protect our athletes from serious harm and that remains our priority today.

"By introducing the ban from the date of selection, we are giving any athlete taking hypnotic medications time to wean themselves off the drug long before they enter the village in Rio."

The AOC was criticised in 2012 for not giving athletes sufficient time to stop using the medications.

"The three-week window prior to London caused issues within the team but, this time, there is no excuse," de Jong said.

The ban covers medications including zolpidem, which is found in the brand name Stilnox; nitrazepam, contained in the brand name Mogadon and; flunitrazepam, found in the brand name Rohypnol.