Should Leelanau County high school athletes be subject to random drug tests?

Among the coaches, administrators and athletes I asked last week, the answer was a resounding, "No."

Why?

No. 1. Just about everyone feels there is no rampant use of steroids or other performance enhancing drugs.

No. 2. The money isn’t in anyone’s budget to administer the program.

“But if we felt there was a problem, we’d find the money,” said one coach.
So why are three states already testing high school athletes? That’s a good question.

New Jersey became the first state in the country to start a statewide testing policy for prep athletes last year. Of the 150 random samples taken last fall, not one positive result was found. Everyone passed.

Texas signed a far more ambitious bill into law last week that allows testing of athletes in all sports at a cost of millions. Football, of course, is king in Texas and there have been some questions among college recruiters about steroid use among players.

Another football-rich state, Florida, has also jumped on the testing bandwagon. Beginning July 1, the Florida High School Athletic Association will supervise the testing. But in Florida, the testing will only be for athletes taking part in football, baseball and weightlifting.

Tests will be randomly administered to 1 percent of the students who compete in the three sports. The cost? $100,000.

Any athlete who refuses to provide a urine sample would be ineligible to remain on the team. Those who test positive aren’t even kicked off the team for the rest of the year. They can be reinstated if they pass a follow-up test later.

So it will be more like a hand slap.

Many states, including Michigan, are monitoring these drug testing programs closely.

But for now, they are convinced it isn’t a huge problem.

Maybe it is a growing problem (pun intended) in the football crazy states of Florida and Texas. Or maybe some administrators are watching a little too much ESPN. We’ll know in a couple years if all that money was worth the testing.

Actually, I think a different kind of testing is needed in high school sports. It’s called an attitude test. I think more high school athletes would be in danger of failing that test than they would any steroid test.

That’s because there are more cases of inflated egos than inflated muscles causing problems – at least in Leelanau County.

The first one to invent a test for that – with a cure – becomes an instant multi-millionaire.