PRE-SEASON DRUG TESTING FOR ATHLETES HAS NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Dear Editor,

Your proposal to start drug testing of student-athletes for steroids during
pre-season physicals will have many unintended but foreseeable negative
consequences. In addition to its high costs (around $125 per test), testing
will not teach children about the harms that steroids and other drugs have
on their bodies. Testing is not the solution to adolescent substance use and
abuse.

Drug testing can also place students at serious risk of potential danger,
particularly if a "one strike and you're out" policy is adopted. Research
shows that keeping students engaged in extracurricular activities after
school reduces rates of drug and alcohol use, teen pregnancy and juvenile
crime.

Schools should endeavor to educate students and develop policies that value
honest dialog, science-based evidence and parental involvement. Drug testing
alienates and humiliates students without addressing the larger problem of
inadequate or non-existent drug education and prevention programs.

Instead of testing, schools and concerned parents should look to
science-based drug education and prevention programs that have proven
effectiveness and relatively low costs. Two examples of programs that work:
Adolescents Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids (ATLAS), which is
tailored for student-athletes, and LifeSkills Training, which is appropriate
for the entire student population.

Nikos A. Leverenz, Associate Director, Drug Policy Alliance Sacramento