Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jul 2008
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Copyright: 2008 Reno Gazette-Journal
Contact: http://www.rgj.com/helpdesk/news/letter_to_editor.php
Website: http://www.rgj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/363
Author: Justin Lawson

MCQUEEN FOOTBALL DRUG TESTING PLAN GOES BEFORE SCHOOL BOARD

McQueen High School officials will seek permission  Tuesday from the
Washoe County school board for random  drug testing of varsity, junior
varsity and freshman  football players this season, becoming the first
Northern Nevada school to test for recreational and  performance-
enhancing drugs.

Green Valley High School in Henderson has tested athletes for both
since 2006. Battle Mountain High School has tested for recreational
drugs, but not alcohol, since 2004.

"I'm very excited about the potential to implement a drug testing
policy, depending on the school board's decision," McQueen coach Ken
Dalton said. "I really have felt strongly for the last couple years
that this would only help.

"This is something that we really felt that was really needed, and we
really got very proactive. I felt that it was something that I wanted
to have in place to support the kids."

The proposal might face criticism.

"In the e-mails that I've received and the phone calls that I've
received, I have not had any parent that's not wanting us to do this
test. In fact, our parents are very supportive, and they are backing
us," McQueen athletic director Eric Borja said. "I haven't heard any
negatives yet. They can definitely be out there, but I haven't heard
them."

Across the country, some parents and athletes have fought
testing.

"I think it's great because the fact that it's random makes it fair to
everyone on the team," said David Ahmadi, a senior McQueen offensive
lineman. "Now, we can enforce the drug policy instead of it just being
there. It's just something you sign. Now, it's actually a rule."

In 2006-07, 525 Washoe County athletes were suspended for drugs or
alcohol, up from 360 and 344 the two previous years, officials said.

Last season, two McQueen football players were suspended for the
regional semifinal and championship games for having alcohol on their
breath at practice. In 2006, Dalton caught

five players drinking at a Nevada Wolf Pack football game and
suspended them for the rest of the season.

"The ultimate goal would be to reduce the number of kids that we see
that do have substance abuse problems," Washoe schools Deputy
Superintendent Rick Harris said. "We do (have) a lot of indicators.
The results that we've gotten are we have a problem, and this should
help that."

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association imposed a drug and
alcohol policy on member schools in 2002.

Athletes must sign a contract that prohibits the use or possession of
drugs, alcohol and tobacco. A first violation results in a suspension
of six competitive weeks of play. A second violation brings a 90-day
suspension, a substance abuse evaluation and a substance abuse
intervention program. A third violation makes them ineligible for the
rest of their high school careers.

McQueen officials plan a

15-week program during which Sport Safe, a national drug-testing
company, would take and test urine samples.

The cost is $37 a test, to be paid by the McQueen football program.
School officials do not know how many players will be tested.

Random tests would be weekly for the varsity, junior varsity and
freshman players. Sport Safe would test for 14 drugs, including
alcohol, marijuana, anabolic steroids and ecstasy.

A 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Justice found

66.5 percent of high school seniors had consumed alcohol, 31.5 percent
had smoked marijuana and 1.8 percent used steroids in a year.

McQueen's proposal is a step in what has been a slow-moving nationwide
push toward drug testing. New Jersey was the first state to mandate
drug testing in high schools in 2006 and has been followed by Florida,
Texas and Illinois.

Washoe County schools and NIAA officials said the testing might be
expanded, depending on the McQueen results.

"The school district has been looking at it for a while," Harris said.
"We're looking at a federal grant that would possibly do all
activities for all high schools. That's just in the discussion stages,
but this pilot would really help us make that determination.

"This is a golden opportunity for us to see, on a small scale, how
effective it is, what's working well, can we do it large scale?"

A statewide testing program might be a little harder to approve, NIAA
Executive Director Eddie Bonine said.

"It's a wait-and-see and this point because I will say, this is bold
to say, that there are five or six, maybe seven, superintendents that
aren't in favor of testing at all," he said. "There were
superintendents, at one point, that weren't in favor of the way the
drug and alcohol policy was originally written.

"There's a lot of loopholes we need to jump through, plus if we're
going to put it into regulation, it's got to go in front of the
Legislature to be passed."

In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ruling that school drug ruled
testing was constitutional. Dissenters called the ruling a violation
of student Fourth Amendment rights. The Supreme Court upheld a similar
law in 2002. Every state that has implemented similar testing has been
challenged.
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