Steroids prompt education efforts, By: Terron Hampton
New Jersey is first state to start random testing for high school athletes, but Maryland has no such plans
Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association this summer became the first state governing body to institute random steroid testing for high school athletes. While steroids have been a rising concern at all levels of sports, Maryland is not likely to follow New Jersey’s lead.
The Maryland Public Second Schools Athletic Association and Prince George’s County Athletic Association will not have a steroid testing policy anytime soon, say state and local athletic officials.
County prep athletes and coaches have acknowledged that the use of steroids among teens is on the rise nationally, but not in the county, they say. Local officials continue to assert that preventive education, not testing, is the best way to keep steroids from becoming a local problem.
‘‘We are not, at this time, going to do any type of testing,” County Athletic Supervisor Earl Hawkins said. ‘‘We do try to educate our coaches and players as to the dangers of [steroid use].”
In 2005, then-New Jersey Gov. Richard Cody convened a task force on steroid use and prevention. The task force found evidence from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that 3 percent of high school athletes reported using anabolic steroids at least once, with evidence of almost 2 percent of middle school students also had used anabolic steroids.
The state of New Jersey and the NJSIAA cite the dangerous effects of steroid use and the unfair advantage the drugs give to athletes as the primary justification for testing.
Steroid testing among athletes has legal precedent. In a 2002 case in Oklahoma, the Supreme Court gave the green light to schools to conduct random testing. The decision overturned a prior ruling and determined that random steroid testing among high school athletes was not an invasion of privacy.
But the state of New Jersey came up with further justification.
‘‘We did some anecdotal work and heard from the athletes [in interviews] that they knew where to get [steroids],” said Bob Baly, an official with the NJSIAA and head of the state’s steroid task force. ‘‘[Steroids] are very easy to get and accessible. You can get them from over the internet.”
MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks said steroids might not be the biggest problem of its kind amongst athletes in Maryland.
‘‘I can’t give you an honest assessment [of the steroid issue] because we haven’t done one,” Sparks said. ‘‘Although we’re not turning a blind eye to anything. I don’t believe steroids are as big of an issue as other drugs are like illicit drugs.”
Hawkins said the county has sought the observations of medical authorities that conduct physical examinations of some of the county’s athletes at the Wellness Centers at Oxon Hill, Northwestern and Fairmont Heights High Schools.
Hawkins said the feedback he has been given is that none of the athletes observed showed any visible physical signs of steroid use, but he added ‘‘certainly there might be some use. It’s probably more prevalent than we think.”
Maybe not, according to Eleanor Roosevelt High senior Jaceia Montgomery, who excels in the 400-meter dash and long jump.
‘‘I don’t think that we actually feel the need to use steroids,” Montgomery said, citing the subject rarely surfaces in conversations amongst county prep athletes. ‘‘I know at Roosevelt, every year for each sport season, we actually have meetings where they talk about steroids and why it’s not good to use them. I feel as though I, myself, have been educated.”
Friendly High senior football player Lawrence Brewer said he hasn’t encountered steroid use on the county landscape.
‘‘I haven’t really had any experience with [steroids], I’ve never heard of steroids being available,” Brewer said. ‘‘You hear [talk about other players getting big] all the time. They just put in that work and other people are not. A lot of people [grew] on our team. I know they are not doing anything illegal. The most I’ve heard of is protein shakes here and there, that’s it.”
Cornelius Ward, also a senior on Friendly’s football team, said he is well aware of the recent controversy involving professional athletes, including baseball slugger Barry Bonds, who allegedly obtained steroids from Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.
‘‘I’m taking sports medicine at Friendly and we talk about steroid use and how they handled the BALCO investigation,” Ward said. ‘‘[As players] we really don’t talk about it. I’ve heard of players taking creatine or something like that, but nothing like steroids.”
Bowie High football coach Jae Jackson reiterated the local notion.
‘‘I don’t think [steroids] are very widespread in this area,” Jackson said. ‘‘I think some of the other [supplements] such as creatine are used. If it starts getting to where people talk about it more or start to suspect others, then there should be testing.”
Perhaps educational information in the form of coaching seminars, or DVDs from the National Federation of State High School Associations made available to area athletes have made a difference.
Nonetheless, there are clear indications of steroid use on the prep level.
The National School Boards Association in November 2003 published figures from the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy and University of Michigan studies, which show steroid use among high-school aged males is between 6 and 11 percent and 1 to 2 percent for females.
Sparks said the MPSSAA does not currently have the resources to conduct studies of its own, but is not sure if some of the data in other studies is reliable.
‘‘We’re trying to do our best as far as educating our kids,” Sparks said. ‘‘There are so many issues with testing. I think [steroids] are important and at the forefront of illegal drugs [issues]. Our plans are to give the schools and give the coaches information regarding steroids and to go on an educational level.”
