Roid Rage: Anger over doping spurs Legislature to push for more drug testing, By: Andres Martinez

April 13, 2007

Edinburg football coach Roy Garza sat his team down to remind them of the dangers of steroid use just days after a Rio Grande Valley coach was arrested with vials of steroids in February.
“We used that as ammunition to hit the message home,” he said. “We took a full day. … Instead of lifting, we gave them literature.”

More ammunition to fight steroid use could soon become available, with the Senate and House passing similar bills this week that would require

random steroid testing of high school athletes.

The most significant issue legislators in both chambers must address is who would pay for the testing. The Senate bill sets aside $4 million each year to go to testing costs.

The House bill asks for the University Interscholastic League to increase the prices of tickets to games to pay for the testing.

While the steroid problem has been most prominent in North Texas powerhouse football schools, it has cast a pall on schools across the state. A recent Texas A&M University survey of students in grades seven to 12 estimates that about 1.5 percent of students are using steroids, according to The Associated Press.

New Jersey is currently the only state that tests student athletes for steroids. The testing is limited to teams that make the post-season, according to the AP.

Under the current Senate bill, 3 percent of the state’s student athletes would have to be tested. There are about 733,000 athletes playing for 1,300 schools across the state.
The House bill is not as specific.


Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, a former Mission football player, says he hesitated before voting yes for the Senate bill this week.

He said he would prefer that students who are suspected of drug use be tested, rather than randomly testing students. Random testing makes everyone seem like a criminal, he said.
Hinojosa said he will ask to be appointed to the conference committee made up of House and Senate members to hammer out the bill before it gets sent to the governor’s office. The governor has not said whether he will sing the bill.

The battle goes beyond Austin. The head of the state association of athletic directors says his group supports testing but is against any directive from Austin that comes without funding.

“If you make every school test every kid, there is not enough money in budgets,” said Joe Rodriguez, who is also Brownsville school district’s athletic director.

He said that the steroid problem is limited to North Texas high schools. In the Valley, most coaches have to worry about alcohol and drug abuse, not steroids, he said.

There have been no recent reports of steroid use by student athletes in the Valley.
But the arrest of the Donna coach in February brought the issue to the forefront for Valley coaches, even though the steroids found in the coach’s car haven’t been connected to high school use.

Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, D-Palmview, argues Valley coaches and parents should be especially concerned about the drugs.

“We still don’t know what the short- and long-term impact is of steroid use,” he said. “We have to be even more careful, with Mexico being so close, and the drugs being so accessible.”