Florida Tackles High School Steroid Problem, By: Kim Bokamper

May 29, 2007

High Schools are where you can find some of the most wide-spread steroid use, and now one state legislator is doing something to stop it, making Florida one of the first states to combat the problem among children.

Coach Tony Meilan, of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Southwest Miami-Dade, admits it’s a problem among high school athletes.

“I know for a fact that it’s out there,” said Meilan. “We’ve seen kids out there that we’ve known that have either been on it or that they’re on it.”

State Representative Marcelo Llorente has sponsored a recently passed bill instituting steroids testing at the prep level. For him it’s a chance to stop the beast at its flashpoint.

“There’s clearly a lot of temptations, when you look at whether it’s trying to enhance your ability to get drafted or getting that college scholarship or whatnot, the temptation is there to do everything you can to enhance your performance,” said Llorente.

“Hopefully parents and coaches and administrations are realistic enough to realize how harmful steroids are, and hopefully across the board they’ll be accepted by everyone," said Cardinal Gibbons' Baseball Coach Jason Hamilton.

The plan is not without its flaws, because only one percent of student athletes will be tested, and it will only include football, baseball, and weightlifting. This leaves plenty of room for kids to fall through the cracks.

“That number may sound low, and it probably is,” said Llorente. “But at the end of the day I think that if we have random selection, the young kids will not know if they are going to be tested or not.”

The ultimate goal is to test more children in more sports, but for now Florida has the spotlight as being on the forefront of testing high school students. New Jersey is the only other state that has instituted such a law.