Student testing targets steroids, By: Josh Bean
August 19, 2007
Baldwin County schools have expanded their drug-testing program to include steroids, a move aimed at keeping muscle-building pills and injections away from local students.
A number of high-profile professional athletes, including new home run king Barry Bonds, have been linked to steroid use, and may have made performance-enhancing drugs more enticing, said county Athletic Director Chuck Anderson.
"Obviously, the use and prevalence of steroids has increased in the last 10 to 15 years," said Anderson, who coordinates Baldwin junior high and high school sports. "The use of steroids in professional athletics has caused it to trickle down to high school athletics."
He said, "Anybody with common sense knows that steroids should not be used, and they can be harmful, especially to young people. If steroid testing is a deterrent for even one kid, I can't understand why anybody wouldn't be in favor of it."
The Baldwin school system launched its drug-testing program in spring 2006 at Gulf Shores High and Gulf Shores Middle schools. Students who participate in extracurricular activities -- from the debate team to football -- and those who drive to school must submit to random testing.
In January, Baldwin officials extended the testing to the other six high schools, and will add other middle schools in January 2008.
Last school year, only 26 of the 709 random tests -- 3.7 percent -- indicated the presence of drugs, according to school system figures. All of the positive tests reflected use of marijuana, and one of those also included amphetamines.
Some of those students were also tested for steroids, said Assistant Superintendent Terry Knight, but he added that he didn't know how many. None tested positive for steroids.
Knight said that only a "random sampling of the already-random sample" will include steroid screening because of the high cost. A single steroid test costs $200, he said, while the test for drugs including marijuana, cocaine, painkillers and methamphetamines costs $47.
Knight declined to divulge how many steroid screenings will be performed because "we don't want students to know that information." Athletes won't be singled out, he said.
It's unclear how many other school systems in Alabama conduct random drug tests or steroid tests, because the state Department of Education does not track that data, said spokesman Michael Sibley. The Mobile County school system has no drug-testing program.
Anderson and Knight said there's no evidence to suggest steroids have become popular among local teens, but they stressed that the Baldwin testing is designed to serve as a deterrent.
Anderson said steroids have entered the national conversation thanks to the spotlight on Bonds as he pursued and broke Hank Aaron's career home run record. Anderson also referenced the steroid allegations swirling around the recent triple-murder/suicide involving professional wrestler Chris Benoit.
"People that are looking for something that might give them an edge may say, 'Hey, this is something that helped them, maybe it might help me.' That's very dangerous," Anderson said.
