IT'S TIME TO TEST

We Owe It To Students To Take On Steroid Use

What Texans call pride, others call arrogance. And Texas is never
more proud (or arrogant) than when it comes to sports.

Now Texas should apply its athletic swagger to something more
important than filling trophy cases - combating steroid use among teenagers.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst last week threw his support behind testing
high school athletes for steroids, an idea that has been gaining
steam since The Dallas Morning News published "The Secret Edge," a
series exposing the pervasive, but elusive, cheating going on in
weight rooms across the state.

Mr. Dewhurst is confident Texas can mandate and pay for testing about
20,000 of the state's 742,000 student athletes. Parents, coaches and
experts will need to figure out who should be tested, how often and
with what test. It's vital that the process be accurate, that it
catch cheaters and that the testing lab's procedures are not
vulnerable to legal challenge.

Also, as the state takes the lead in cracking down on steroids in
high school sports, shouldn't it also beef up testing for other drugs?

School districts are not required to test for recreational drugs
among students participating in extracurricular activities, though
more than 20 North Texas districts do. Requiring districts to keep
tabs on those drugs makes sense to us.

Questions far outnumber answers at this point, but we do know this:
Testing would send a message to hardworking, honest athletes that
adults will not look the other way while they are outperformed on the
playing field by cheaters. We also know testing would deter steroid
use, and accompanying educational programs would help educate coaches
and students about liver damage, depression and other results of steroid use.

Catching and punishing cheaters would send a badly needed message
regarding integrity to today's hypercompetitive world. That's way
more important than bragging rights.