Mandatory steroid tests not best option

07/17/2007

High school students who use steroids is a potentially explosive issue. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in 2005
that steroid use among high school students more
than doubled between 1991 and 2003, USA Today reported.
More than 6 percent of 15,000 students surveyed admitted trying pills or injections. In 2005, though, less than 4 percent of the nation's high schools were testing for steroids, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations' survey of athletic directors, USA Today reported.
While more states have begun to address the issue, it hasn't resolved much.
We're certain, however, mandatory random steroid testing programs for high school student-athletes are not the best solution.
Yet, school administrators can't turn a blind eye to steroids or any drug use. The problem exists in the inner city, suburbia and rural America.
More than a year ago, Berkshire School District leaders debated the merits of a drug-testing policy after finding student-athletes were getting in trouble for drugs.
The district opted to drop the issue because it was too controversial.
But the temptation for athletes to enhance their performance with anabolic steroids has accelerated, and now involves even younger grade levels, as the CDC report from 2005 verifies.
Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League have adopted more stringent policies for players who take steroids after Congress threatened to impose rules.
But the pressure also exists in college.
The NCAA released a five-year study in 2005 showing there was less steroid use in 2004-05, compared to 2003-04. The same study, however, revealed more students using various stimulants.
It's not unlikely middle-school students soon will feel the same pressure to perform as those who star in the NFL or Major Leagues.
Schools that rush in, however, will quickly confront a myriad of nagging issues.
They can't test for everything, because it's not legal. They can't test everyone, because superintendents have said that's not legal, either.
So, Ohio's educational system must show young athletes the harm steroids and other performance enhancing drugs can do, and teach them why they aren't necessary to compete.