Feb 6, 2015

Failed Test?

Seven years ago, Texas launched an ambitious program to test high school athletes for steroids. Nearly $10 million later, the Sunset Advisory Commission, a group of state lawmakers, has recommended ending random testing at the state level.

According to an article in USA Today:

• The most recent report found that last year, just two positive tests were found among the 2,600 students selected for random testing. Another seven students were absent on the day of testing and considered “protocol positives.”
• Lawmakers will soon sponsor a bill to implement the commission’s recommendations.
• The state would save $500,000 a year if the program were eliminated.

School districts could still test their own students, but that’s unlikely to occur due to costs. However, according to Dr. Corbett Boone, a physician at Southwest Sports Medicine in Waco, educating student-athletes is still paramount:

“That has been shown that it actually does help,” Dr. Boone told USA Today. “So I think more knowledge is better…The last thing you want to do is to tell these guys, ‘Hey, there’s something out there that can help you get bigger, stronger, faster,’ and they know nothing about the dangers of it.”

Read the full article here.