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Drug testing sought for student athletes
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Scholastic athletes could be warming the bench for as long as a year for ingesting illegal drugs — and not just performance-enhancing steroids — under a new Senate bill.
“I think we’ve got a problem with steroids,” the lead sponsor, Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, said Monday.
“I think we’ve got problems with all kinds of drugs, just like we would with any other state.”
Barnes feels athletes not only are in a pressure cooker from their peers to do drugs, but says parents at times are turning up the burners, as well.
“It’s a big temptation for parents as well, knowing what the end result of a good student athlete can be,” he said.
Put simply, that means a scholarship, for a chance to play on Saturdays, and even the opportunity to perform on Sundays in the National Football League.
“We’re one of the few states that doesn’t require drug testing on athletes,” Barnes said.
Under the bill, the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission must set up a mandatory drug screening program.
Any athlete would be in violation for possessing, ingesting or otherwise using drugs on a list of banned substances without a written prescription from a licensed doctor for treatment of medical conditions.
Before any student could take part in interscholastic sports, he and his parent or guardian must agree in writing to random, confidential testing. Refusal to sign disqualifies one from championship competitions.
The measure says 60 percent of all tests will embrace football, wrestling, track and field, swimming and baseball, while all other sports will fall into the 40 percent bracket.
Only when an approved laboratory finds evidence of drugs will a positive result be proclaimed in testing.
Any athlete testing positively, or refusing to provide a sample, or voluntarily reports a violation, will be ineligible to participate in an SSAC competition a full year from the date of the test.
And, eligibility wouldn’t resume until the offending athlete has undergone counseling and tested negative.
“I think kids are taking drugs of all sorts below the high school level,” Barnes said.
Barnes has been joined in sponsorship by Sens. John Yoder, R-Jefferson; Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier; Erik Wells, D-Kanawha; Minority Leader Don Caruth, R-Mercer; and Shirley Love, D-Fayette.
Since the bill was printed, Barnes said he has given 100 percent support from athletic directors, coaches and principals.
Sponsors say it would apply to any kind of illegal drug.
“Drugs are drugs,” Barnes said.
Decades ago, athletes were considered role models and were expected to take the lead in society, but that has gone into the decline, the senator said.
“And that decline we’re seeing in professional sports starts working its way back,” he said.
“And if there’s expectations of drug use among professional sports, eventually there will be an expectation of drug use all the way back down the line. We need to nip it in the bud. We need to take care of it right here in West Virginia. We’re a conservative state. We’ve got values. Let’s keep those values strong.”
Mannix Porterfield writes for The Register-Herald in Beckley, W.Va.
