Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for January 15, 2008 IHSA - RANDOM DRUG TESTING

IHSA approves random drug tests for student athletes

Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois is poised to become the first state to plan random drug testing of high school student athletes without a legislative mandate.

The Illinois High School Association board of directors approved the testing today at a meeting in Bloomington. The group represents more than 750 Illinois high schools.

Student athletes who compete in postseason events will be subject to random tests for performance-enhancing drugs starting next fall.

Currently, New Jersey and Florida are the only states to test student athletes and Texas is finalizing its program.

IHSA executive director Marty Hickman says the random testing will apply to students competing in "IHSA state series." Examples include regionals, sectionals and state championships.

Final details, such as penalties for students who test positive, will be discussed next month.

Related story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch...

Students' steroid use is targeted

By Kevin McDermott
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

School and political leaders are moving to impose drug tests in gymnasiums and field houses across Missouri and Illinois, fearing that high school athletes might emulate their sports heroes in seeking an extra boost.

Legislation pending in Missouri would require all school districts to adopt testing programs for performance-enhancing drugs, in part as a deterrent for students tempted by the "steroid era" in sports.

"It's a frightening world," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee's Summit. "There are a lot of kids who feel that competitive pressure."

His bill will be debated in a legislative committee for the first time today — a debate that will likely continue for months.

In Illinois, many high school student athletes will be subject to random steroid testing in postseason play beginning this fall, under a program approved by the Illinois High School Association board Monday.

Illinois law doesn't mandate testing, but the effect could be much the same because IHSA rules cover about 95 percent of all Illinois high schools.

"Our new testing policy will protect the health of our youth and give students a reason to say no when the pressures mount to take a shortcut," IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman said in a prepared statement.

The two states are following a trail blazed by New Jersey, Texas and Florida, which have recently passed drug-testing laws for high school athletes. Those moves were a response to the string of national drug scandals in recent years in baseball and other professional sports.

One tricky issue is trying to get a firm handle on steroid use among high school students.

An annual study by the University of Michigan, called "Monitoring the Future," found that about 2 percent of 10th- and 12th-graders who were surveyed in 2007 reported using steroids at least once. The survey of about 15,000 students in each grade level was not limited to athletes.

The numbers in 2007 are lower than in previous years. But, some advocates say, they are still too high.

Gary Wadler, an expert on drug use in sports, said steroids affect young people by stunting their development and can cause a host of side effects, including liver problems, acne, baldness, development of breast tissue in males, and increased facial and body hair in females. High doses of steroids also can increase aggression and irritability.

Wadler, who works with the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency, said testing programs can be effective.

"As part of the total mix of dealing with performance-enhancing drugs, there's no question that testing should be included," Wadler said.

SKEPTICAL COACHES

Missouri's proposed law has already drawn fire from some who question its expense and necessity.

"If local boards of education want to explore the possibility of drug testing, that's their option," said Brent Ghan, spokesman for the Missouri School Boards Association, which opposes the legislation. "It should be left as a local policy issue."

Ghan said testing programs are costly (an individual test can run $200) and could open districts to lawsuits if administered incorrectly.

Also, coaches and high school athletics directors remain skeptical about how big the problem is.

"I'm in the weight room a lot. I don't see the signs of it," said Don Rothermich, athletics director at Parkway Central High School.

He said athletics directors from the four Parkway schools discuss random drug testing about once a year, concluding each time that "it's more counterproductive than it is productive."

Justin Tatum, the first-year basketball coach at Soldan International Studies High School in the St. Louis school district, said he does not believe steroids are a problem in the Public High League.

"It's extremely hard for these kids to get," he said.

The Fort Zumwalt School District in St. Charles County is one of a handful in Missouri that already test students. One of its high schools, Fort Zumwalt South, has not found much trouble through its program, said athletics director Mike O'Brien.

The district allows parents to choose random testing for their children who play sports. At Zumwalt South, O'Brien said, 405 athletes — or 83 percent — are enrolled in the program, paid for by the district.

O'Brien selects five students each week to test for amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and marijuana. At least one of the five also is tested for steroids. O'Brien said the school has not had a positive test in the past two years.

As they debate the issue (the legislation is SB736), legislators will have to decide how to pay for testing, among other questions. Bartle is head of the Senate Judiciary, Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, which will decide whether the bill moves to the full Senate.

Bartle could not estimate how much drug testing would cost but said it would probably have to be paid with member fees through the Missouri State High School Activities Association.

"You make it random, and you build a testing program where you only have to test a tiny fraction of the athletes," Bartle said. "That's what makes it affordable."

COST IN ILLINOIS

Illinois' random-testing program is expected to cost about $100,000 per year, an estimate based on 500 anabolic steroid tests annually. The cost would be borne by the IHSA's regular budget, which is supported almost entirely by entry fees to high school athletic events, said IHSA Assistant Executive Director Kurt Gibson.

Details of the program are still in flux, but generally, athletes will be randomly selected for testing immediately after IHSA postseason events such as regionals, with testing on site at the tournament venues.

In Illinois, the move is an internal rule by a volunteer organization rather than a state mandate. The board's decision Monday followed three years of discussion with IHSA's roughly 760 member schools.

"We were looking around and seeing the problems the professional levels were having," said Gibson. "We know there are kids in Illinois, like everywhere else, who are taking these" drugs.

Like some of his colleagues in Missouri, Belleville East athletics director Jim Reynolds wonders how prevalent the problem is and whether testing is an adequate solution.

"You have to first of all make sure there is a problem before you go through spending all that money," he said.

He also wants more details.

"I'm not ready to jump forward on it," he said. "I'm waiting for the IHSA to jump forward and give us some guidelines."