Texas intends to end school steroid use, By: Gabe Semenza
Not everyone is sure the state needs to spend $6 million
September 09, 2007
At 17, Taylor Hooton had a bright future.
The Plano high school baseball pitcher was athletic, popular and cheerful - until he stopped using anabolic steroids.
The euphoria, confidence and aggression Hooton once felt left him.
Hopeless, the teen hanged himself in July 2003, according to The Tyler Hooton Foundation. The foundation was formed a year later in his memory to sway others like him from the drug's ill effects.
In late May, the 80th Texas Legislature followed suit. It passed Senate Bill 8.
The bill enacts the random testing of about 25,000 Texas public high school student-athletes yearly, or about 3 percent of the state's 740,000 such students.
"Steroid abuse is a rapidly growing problem in high schools," Senate Bill 8 notes. "Across Texas and the nation, young people are abusing steroids to become better athletes, but they may have no idea how this substance can harm their bodies and minds."
Anabolic steroids are a class of natural and synthetic steroid hormones. Those who use them experience muscle growth and faster recovery times while training. For athletes, that means an enhanced ability to train harder and longer.
The Texas Legislature set aside $6 million to fund testing for two years. Students in every sport will be subject to the random tests.
The state is one of only three nationwide to institute an anti-steroid law at this level.
The law says steroids are illegal if not prescribed by a doctor and used for medical purposes. Using the substance for bodybuilding, better athletic performance, or the increase of muscle bulk or strength does not constitute valid medical purposes.
Citing suicide, sudden heart attack, liver disease, and other health and mental risks related to illegal steroid use, the bill requires high school athletes to agree to avoid using them - and for coaches to complete a program that details the performance-enhancing drug's negative impacts.
A recent survey conducted by Texas A&M University, however, found steroid use in high schools decreased from 21/2 percent a few years ago to 11/2 percent today.
That has some questioning the need for such a multi-million dollar monitoring program.
Initial hopes were that the testing would begin by the end of this year's Texas high school football season, or shortly before Christmas.
But Cliff Odenwald, the University Interscholastic League's associate athletic director, said it's unlikely that will happen.
Odenwald said the UIL is still reviewing bids from 14 drug-screening companies. He thinks the testing will begin after the football season ends.
The UIL governs Texas student-athletes and supervises sports at about 400 high schools. This steroid law applies to UIL student-athletes and not private school students, he said.
Senate Bill 8 requires the UIL to adopt rules for administration of the tests, as well as sanctions for those who fail the test.
Odenwald said students who tests positive can practice but will be suspended from competition for 30 days.
If that student is tested positive again later, for a second time, punishment includes a one-year suspension. A third positive test mandates a lifetime ban.
He also noted that tests will be random, and students will not be given prior notice.
Kim Rogers, a UIL spokeswoman, said because the league is reviewing the 14 drug-screening companies bidding for the contract, it's too early to offer specific details about the program. Each company differs a bit in its procedures, she said.
The Advocate talked to Temple's Compliance Safety Systems, one of those 14 companies in competition for the contract.
Doug Brodie, vice president of CSS, said the law mandates drug-screening companies perform the program's legwork.
This includes collecting urine samples, sending the samples to a federally approved lab and then alerting chosen school representatives about test results.
Odenwald said the chosen drug-screening company, and not the UIL or school, will select students at random for testing.
Students will sign forms agreeing to avoid steroid use, and parents will sign consent forms giving permission for their child to be tested.
"I think anything that will help deter students from taking a drug, which steroids is, is a great thing," he said.
Charles Breithaupt, the UIL's athletic director, questions the scope of the state's steroid problem, citing the A&M survey during a recent speech in Fort Worth.
"There are bigger issues such as marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and even heroin," Breithaupt said during that speech. "We think that money might be better spent to deter other activities and could be done much cheaper."
