Oregon aims to tackle steroid problem in schools, By: Dan Itel
April 25, 2006
SUNRIVER -- You're hearing plenty about steroids in sports. What you're probably not hearing about is steroids in high school sports. You should.
And one of the state's most legitimate efforts to combat the trend is gaining momentum. The Oregon School Activities Association addressed the problems of drug use, particularly steroid abuse, in high school sports at a press conference Monday at the Oregon Athletic Directors Association conference here by introducing its partnership with the ATHENA and ATLAS programs. The programs are in-school drug prevention efforts for boys and girls created by Oregon Health & Science University.
It's significant -- and likely something you're bound to hear more about because the numbers are becoming hard to ignore. The number of high school athletes admitting to steroid use has grown from 1 in 45 in 1993, to 1 in 27 in 1999 and now to 1 in 16, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Monday's event kicked off the partnership of Sports Illustrated and OHSU with the OSAA to get the ATHENA and ATLAS programs in schools. Four schools, among 40 applicants, were selected to receive a free year of the program. Among those schools was Stayton.
"This is the first program I've seen that can impact a whole community and a school," Stayton athletic director Jamie McCarty said. "This can do wonders for the school climate."
The programs are gender-specific, peer-group discussions at practices and other team functions.
McCarty wouldn't say whether he's seen an actual steroid problem at his school. But the numbers, he said, don't lie.
"I think in high school it is becoming more of a problem," he said. "I think it's becoming one of the bigger issues we have in athletics."
Sports Illustrated and OHSU selected Oregon as one of four states that would receive the free programs. Then they selected four schools based on their enthusiasm to make it work.
Steroids in professional sports are a nasty thing, but kids using the drug represents a downright nightmare.
The doctors who created this program did so because the traditional methods of prevention, such as the "Just Say No" campaigns or scare tactics just weren't working.
At the conference, state Sen. Peter Courtney, Sports Illustrated photographer John McDonough, DEA officials and Diane Elliott M.D., one of the creators of the program at OHSU, all spoke about how steroids are creeping into high schools. And their main theme was that the solution doesn't lie with stiffer testing, legislation or harsh penalties.
It lies with the community, the coaches and community members who are around the kids in the gym, locker room and ball fields.
The conference also included a pitch to sell the program to schools. It's not cheap: The four schools (Glencoe, Pendleton and Scappoose in addition to Stayton) are receiving $25,000 worth of materials and support starting next fall.
But the biggest message was that this is a problem we all should probably start paying attention to.
