Not making any form of judgement one way or another here. Just posting an article. Cut and paste job so not sure how it’ll come out.
Published: 7/23/08, 1:46 PM EDT
By PAUL J. WEBER
DALLAS (AP) - The nation’s largest steroids testing program caught only two Texas high school athletes taking unauthorized substances out of more than 10,000 students who were tested, according to results issued by the state Wednesday.
The results renewed criticism about the two-year $6 million program approved by lawmakers last year.
The two students weren’t identified by name, school or sport. Documents obtained by The Associated Press showed that a senior tested positive for the anabolic steroid boldenone, and a 10th grader was found using a steroid called methylandrostandiol.
Four tests came back unresolved and three students refused to be tested, according to the figures released by the University Interscholastic League. One athlete left a testing area without cause or approval, and 18 missed the mandatory testing without an excused absence.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, one of the key figures in pushing the plan through the Legislature, was “encouraged” by the results Wednesday and feels the program’s success should be measured by the number of students who never begin using steroids, said spokesman Mike Wintemute.
A critic, Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick, said the initiative is a “feel good” program that is not acting as a deterrent and should be abolished.
“It’s turned out to be a colossal waste of taxpayer money,” said Patrick. He said he would rather spend the money battling alcohol abuse among teens, arguing that it is a much bigger problem.
UIL spokeswoman Kim Rogers said the two students who tested positive are multi-sport athletes, but that the sports they play are unknown. Rogers said she did not know when conclusive results from the four unresolved tests would be ready.
Testing was conducted at 195 schools, involving 6,455 boys and 3,662 girls. More than 3,300 football players were tested, more than three times the number of any other sport.
Testing started in February after the program was stalled while guidelines were created and a company was chosen to implement the program. The contract was awarded to the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which also handles testing for the NCAA.
In submitting its results to the UIL, the company wrote that “we must steer clear of the temptation to use the number of positive cases generated by this short period of testing to draw any conclusions about the success, or lack thereof, of this testing initiative.”
Random testing resumes in the fall, and state officials say 40,000 to 50,000 student athletes will be screened during the school year.
Associated Press writer Kelley Shannon in Austin contributed to this report.
There is no way anyone should allow this to slide or be passed off as a positive. They insisted that the world was about to end and that teenaged girls were even in on the roid-fun. Now…THEY ONLY FIND TWO!?
I knew it,I fucking knew it! I jsut graduated from a Houston hgihschool this summer and before the wrestlign season started we had an assembly about this very thing.
Everybody knew at the very beginning,the coaches,the students,everybody knew that wither this testing was to find a few guys taht smoked pot (Which I highly doubt,why the hell would anybody jepordized their athletic career,we all been working ahrd for 4 years…) or they werent going to find anybody at all.
nothing like training parents and their children to submit to search and seizure without cause ! start 'em young and they will submit to a lifetime of being second class citzens.
hey kids! become an athlete and live an exciting life of random testing and searches of the completely innocent ! one day, if you’re good enough, you might make the olympic team where you’ll complete “whereabouts forms” detailing your location for every day of the year !!! YAY surprise testing at your home ! yay! surprise testing out to dinner with friends yay! surprise !!!
and when you apply for your olympic license, don’t forget to sign away your right to defend yourself against any positive test ! yay ! you’re no longer a citizen - you’re an athlete ! yay ! go wada ! more testing ! more police ! more politicians !! more suspicion in our sports !!!
[quote]hel320 wrote:
Renton, I copied the story from a newsflash on my homepage. Stories already gone. Here’s the same AP article with some slight differences:
[quote]Beowolf wrote:
Antigen wrote:
This is ridiculous.
The amendment about unreasonable searches and seizures should apply to drug tests on high school athletes.
Besides it being as already stated a waste of tax payer money.
They’re submitting willingly. They have every right to not be tested, it just means they can’t play.[/quote]
Taking the game away from the athlete is not a measure of willful submission, it’s an ultimatum with punishment. These poor kids are between a rock and a hard place.
This is yet another example of the US government abusing our tax money, under the guise of protecting our youth. This is ultimate waste fueled by stupidity. But after all, it IS Texas.
“Four tests came back unresolved and three students refused to be tested, according to the figures released by the University Interscholastic League. One athlete left a testing area without cause or approval, and 18 missed the mandatory testing without an excused absence.”
Plus, wasn’t this voluntary? Couldn’t the kids opt out? Wouldn’t the guilty ones opt out? Kinda like, “only the idiots get caught”.
Not that I truly give a shit nor do I think steroids should stay illegal. I’ve been out of high school 5 years now, but I remember for a fact, that between my high school and our rival high school, I knew about 5 guys that were on juice. 5 guys in my group of friends, out of about 80 football players. And I didn’t know all 80 either. Maybe it’s a regional phenomenon… DFW area here.
I knew some kids around here who used steroids also starting as juniors. This is a complete waste of money, I don’t agree that high school students should use gear but the ones that are going to, will anyways. Its the same as in professional sports.
[quote]shizen wrote:
I knew some kids around here who used steroids also starting as juniors. This is a complete waste of money, I don’t agree that high school students should use gear but the ones that are going to, will anyways. Its the same as in professional sports. [/quote]
I don’t think they should be either, but, I’m not going to stop them.
I agree that this is a waste of money, in large measure because my understanding is that the testing method they use has a 10% chance to create a false positive and a 50% chance to create a false negative (Just off the top of my head, figures could be distorted). With testing this inaccurate, no information of substance will be found.
However, it IS important to keep young adults from using steroids. I think that fact gets glossed over a lot in the zeal for anabolics.
Don’t ask me how I know, but one leader of this witch hunt was a mother who simply couldn’t believe her kid wasn’t talented enough and that others were better. It was a “must be steroids” because he was much smaller and weaker and slower and just not that talented. Colleyville Heritage