Steroid screening inconclusive at Cy-Fair schools, By: Sarah Viren
June 4, 2007
Effectiveness in doubt in large-district program
If Cypress-Fairbanks' first year of random drug screening for athletes is any indication, Texas' impending foray into the steroid-testing business isn't likely to catch many cheaters.
Of the 303 students who tested positive for drugs last school year, more than 85 percent had marijuana in their system; none were found to have taken steroids. Cy-Fair is the largest Houston-area school district to impose mandatory drug testing on students in all competitive activities, from drama club to track.
The district released the numbers just as Gov. Rick Perry considers signing legislation requiring random steroid testing for all high school athletes.
Lawmakers hope the $3 million annual effort will rein in what Lt. Gov David Dewhurst has called "a real problem" in Texas schools.
A 2004 state survey of drug use estimated that about 2 percent of children in seventh to 12th grades use steroids; among athletes, the propensity was higher.
Yet schools already testing for anabolic steroids aren't uncovering widespread problems. According to the University Interscholastic League, which surveys the approximately 130 Texas schools with steroid-testing programs, none reported use among their students last year. The year before only one student tested positive for steroids, the survey showed.
Experts say other issues, including the evasive quality of performance-enhancing drugs and the fact that many schools don't focus just on athletes for their steroid testing programs, could contribute to the low number of positives. In Cy-Fair, for example, a student on the debate team was just as likely to be tested for steroids as a football player.
The UIL will run the new statewide steroid-testing program, which, if approved, would start in time for football seasons this fall.
In Cypress-Fairbanks, performance-enhancing drugs were such a nonissue that the district cut the number of students screened for steroids early in the program. The first two months of this school year, all 2,534 students randomly selected for testing were screened for steroids and other drugs. But starting in October, officials looked for steroids in only about 35 percent of the remaining 6,200 or so teens tested.
Reasons for results
Kelli Durham, a Cy-Fair spokeswoman, said her district saved money and tested more students by limiting the number of more expensive steroid screenings.
"It's beneficial to increase participation," she said. "The larger number of students participating, the more likely it will have a positive effect as a deterrent to taking drugs."
Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport, said there is little research on steroid-testing programs for high school students.
If districts such as Cypress-Fairbanks aren't finding the drug, he said, it could be that the testing program is actually working as a deterrent.
Another, less optimistic explanation, he said, is that students are taking steroids but the labs used by schools aren't able to detect the ever-changing cadre of drugs on the market. He recommends contracting with one of two national labs certified by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"New steroids are introduced all the time, and so it's a moving target," said Uryasz, also former director of sports sciences for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. "You are looking for a steroid and something that looks like a steroid, and so this test has to be done in a research laboratory."
He said that schools set on catching steroid users should test athletes more often than other students.
For its drug testing, Cypress-Fairbanks contracts with Forward Edge Inc., which uses a Pasadena laboratory certified through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration but not the anti-doping agency.
Margaret Gilbert, sales director for Forward Edge, said working with the labs recommended by Uryasz could delay results by months.
Lab limitations
All facilities, she said, face difficulties when it comes to testing for steroids among high school students. The Pasadena lab, she said, hires people to troll gyms and other workout centers to keep up with the latest steroid products in the area.
Even then, there are some tests that have come back as "presumptive positives," meaning there appears to be a trace of a steroid in the system, but the lab can't connect it with an actual illegal drug.
Cypress-Fairbanks tested more than 8,700 students, about 61 percent of students involved in competitive extracurricular activities; 3.5 percent tested positive. Older students were more likely to test positive.
Cypress Springs and Langham Creek high schools had the largest percentage of students found using drugs.
So far the district has no hard data showing the program is working. But members of a student advisory panel anecdotally reported a decline in drug use among their peers.
David Raffield, athletic coordinator and head football coach at Cypress Falls High School, said he's also seen a change.
"I think it really cut into the marijuana use in the area because we made a big deal about how long that would stay in your system," he said.
Penalties for a positive
Others have their doubts. Andrew Benson, a graduating senior from Cypress Creek High School who was not tested, said his peers talked a lot about the drug testing the first six months. But by this spring, it was mostly ho-hum.
"I never heard anyone say, 'No, I can't do that because I might get tested,' " said the 18 year old.
Students found with drugs in their system were suspended from competitions or games for three weeks after their first offense. For those testing positive a second time, the punishment was a six-week suspension. A third positive meant no participation in games or competitive events for the rest of the school year. Last year, 40 students tested positive two times; 17 three times.
Cypress-Fairbanks is one of a growing number of districts that has started drug testing since 2003, when the Supreme Court endorsed such programs.
