The Florida Legislature refused to continue funding a pilot program for steroid testing of high school athletes. State budget problems did not allow legislators to justify spending $175 to $200 per student on random testing for anabolic steroids. Out of 700 tests costing approximately $100,000, one high school student tested positive for anabolic steroid use (“Prep drug testing runs out of juice,” May 19).
The Florida High School Athletic Association will present the results to the legislature in October, Llorente said, but the FHSAA already has a good idea of what they are.
FHSAA spokeswoman Cristina Alvarez confirmed Monday that more than 700 student-athletes have been randomly tested this school year, and only one test came back positive. The positive test was from a football player, Alvarez said, and no athletes from the winter or spring seasons have tested positive.
Rep. Marcelo Llorente, the bill sponsor, feels that $100,000 is a small price to pay to catch a single steroid user.
“It shows that the program deterred young high school athletes from using steroids,” Llorente said. “If we deter one young person in the state from doing steroids and intervene in a positive fashion, I think it becomes a worthwhile endeavor.”
Fortunately, at least one athletic director is a little more reasonable when addressing the issue of steroid testing in high school.
Not everyone agrees. Boca Raton Athletic Director Bill Massey pointed out that it “cost us $100,000 to find that one student.”
“It was a nice idea, probably a more politically correct thing to do,” Massey said of the testing. “To test 1 percent of the state is not a significant number that the student-athletes modified their behavior, and I don’t think it’s as widespread as we would like to say among athletes.”
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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