N.J. Orders Steroid Testing In All High School Sports December 22, 2005
News Summary
Acting New Jersey Governor Richard J. Codey signed an executive order requiring random steroid testing for all high school athletes qualifying for championship tournaments, making the state the first to test for performance-enhancing drugs in all sports, the New York Times reported Dec. 21.Steroid use is a "growing public health threat," said Codey, who steps down as governor in January. According to the New Jersey Division of Health Services, steroid use among New Jersey high school students increased from 3 percent in 1995 to 5 percent in 2001, and could be as high as 8 percent now, Codey said.
New Mexico begins a pilot project in four school districts next month to randomly test student-athletes for illicit drugs, but no state besides New Jersey has yet authorized testing in all sports.
Legal challenge is unlikely, but there is no confirmed link between random testing and a drop in drug use, and the $50,000 used for the testing program would be better spent educating students on the dangers of steroid use, said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.
Frank Uryasz, president of the National Center for Drug Free Sport, calls testing "a great deterrent" and attributes the decline in college football player steroid use since the 1980's to increased testing.
The testing program is set to begin in the 2006-07 school year, but the overseeing New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association has not yet determined what the penalty will be for students who test positive.
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