Random Steroid Testing Begins In Schools

August 20, 2007

A few high school athletes who are on the football, flag football, baseball, softball or weight lifting teams will be randomly tapped for steroids testing this year.

The state passed a law creating a one-year pilot program to start this school year, but the program encompasses at maximum only one percent of the more than 60,000 athletes in those five sports statewide.

And because the state did not allot more money for the tests when flag football and softball were added at the last minute (for gender-equity reasons), less than one percent of the eligible athletes will actually be tested.

Lawmakers will decide next spring whether to continue funding the program.

Florida's program is one of the first nationally.

The concern is that teenagers are abusing steroids to build muscles, mimicking role models in professional sports or desperately trying to get college athletic scholarships.