FEDERAL AGENCY INVESTIGATING OHSU STUDY OF DRUGS, ATHLETES

PORTLAND - A study aimed at determining whether random drug tests
discourage drug use among high school athletes is under investigation by a
federal agency that regulates research, officials said Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Office for Human Research Protections confirmed that
the agency began its investigation of the Oregon Health & Science
University study in May, several weeks before a class-action lawsuit was
filed against OHSU and 14 Oregon school districts. The lawsuit claims
students have been harassed or coerced into taking part in the study.

But the Office for Human Research Protections, a division of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, cannot release details until the
investigation is complete, said spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy in Rockville, Md.

"I can tell you, in general terms, that we investigate on the basis of
whether institutions are in compliance with regulations," El-Hinnawy said.

The three-year, $3.6 million study funded by the National Institutes of
Health is entering its third year.

OHSU researchers, led by Dr. Linn Goldberg, designed the study to determine
how widespread drug and alcohol use is among high school athletes, and
whether random testing reduces it.

Athletes at seven participating high schools face random urine tests for
drugs and breath tests for alcohol. Students at six other schools serve as
a control group with no drug testing. Another school dropped out of the study.

OHSU officials said they received a routine questionnaire on the study from
the Office for Human Research Protections, and after replying, the
institution received a follow-up questionnaire.

"When I looked over the list of questions, they were primarily things that
appeared in the media last year," said OHSU spokesman Martin Munguia.

"They wanted to know what's really behind these allegations, so we're in
process of responding to that latest set of questions," Munguia said.

Controversy over drug testing has generated media attention since the study
began, Munguia said, but researchers have made every effort to protect
privacy and make sure all participants understand and accept the terms of
the study.

But a lawsuit filed June 28 in U.S. District Court in Oregon alleges that
thousands of high school students were forced to take part in the study and
suffered "psychological, social and economic harm."

The lawsuit also seeks an injunction to halt the study, called Saturn -
short for Student Athletic Testing Using Random Notification.

"Once they look at this study, they'll conclude there were ethical lapses
and the study should not have proceeded the way it did," said Alan
Milstein, an attorney in Pennsauken, N.J., who is leading the lawsuit.

He said there was no evidence of a serious drug problem in Oregon schools
before the study, so "it's ludicrous" to spend $3.6 million to find out
what educators already know, or already prevent.

"We have to limit trivial research that is not done to improve science or
medicine but just to do research," Milstein said. The U.S. Supreme Court
recently upheld random drug tests for high school students.

Drug tests in Oregon are up to individual school districts because there is
no statewide policy on testing, said Barb Wolfe, spokeswoman for the Oregon
Department of Education.