The debate over student drug testing for high school students has come into the spotlight after the indictment last Tuesday of suspected drug ring members who reportedly sold anabolic steroids to Danbury area high school students.

The value of testing, according to the proponents, is in deterring drug use and there is no way to measure the number of students who avoid drugs due to testing inspite of the few positive results so far.

From Ctpost.com:

Others dismiss the value of testing for various reasons, from ineffectiveness as a deterrent, to concern for student privacy. And then, there’s the expense — times are tough and testing is not cheap.

In 2005, New Jersey acting Gov. Richard J. Codey ordered the testing of high school students for steroid use, reportedly the first statewide mandate in the country. Texas, Illinois and Florida then followed, though Florida dropped its program after one year.

“Kids want to be quicker, bigger and stronger,” said Steven Timco, executive director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, which oversees his state’s testing program. “They want to get an advantage.”

The National Center for Drug Free Sports conducts the steroid testing program, which costs about $100,000 per year.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Drug Free Sports, steroid use

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With the recent steroid use scandals involving popular athletes, several states are now adopting programs to test for steroids in high school athletics. Texas is one of these states.

Mandated by Senate Bill 8, passed by the 80th Texas Legislature, the statewide random testing program covers student-athletes in grades 9 to 12. Those who belong to this group will undergo random steroid testing irregardless of sex, sport or participation level. This is being implemented by the University Interscholastic League (UIL).

The Conroe High School student-athletes have undergone the first-ever implementation of this program. The ninety (90) athletes who have been tested yielded negative results for anabolic steroids.

The National Center for Drug Free Sport, Inc. (also known as Drug Free Sport) has been selected through a bidding process to conduct the UIL Anabolic Steroid Testing Program for the school years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009.

A statement at the website explains on how the program is to be carried out: “The UIL has been directed to test a statistically significant number of student-athletes in grades 9-12 at approximately 30% of UIL member high schools. The selection process of schools and student-athletes will be random, and approximately 40,000-50,000 student athletes will be tested for anabolic steroids between this spring and the end of the 2008-09 school years.”

State authorities believe that this mandate is the best way to keep high school student-athletes away from the temptation of using anabolic steroids. There have been criticisms, however, against UIL testing for anabolic steroids and not for other recreational drugs. An opinion at The Courier of Montgomery County has this to say: “Given the growing problems with steroid abuse, we applaud the application of the UIL testing program at the high school level; we hope the success of the program will lead schools who currently restrict testing to steroids in student athletes to broaden the testing to include recreational drug use among students in other extracurricular activities as well.”

Tags: Conroe High School, Drug Free Sports, Senate Bill 8, steroids, Texas, University Interscholastic League

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