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Catholic schools in US weigh in on new drug testing program

The Illinois High School Association has reported plans to implement a random drug testing program to detect the use of performance-enhancing substances by high school athletes, reports Paul Storer, Catholic Explorer. IHSA board members came to the decision Jan. 14 after studying results of a survey indicating support for such a program among the majority of high school administrators across the state.

James Laurenti, principal of Kankakee’s Bishop McNamara High School, said he applauds the IHSA for taking initial steps in enacting a program aimed at testing athletes to identify use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

Implementing the program throughout the state, however, will probably be quite difficult, Laurenti told the Catholic Explorer. Administrators at Bishop McNamara High School will pay attention to the logistics of the screening process as the program unfolds during the 2008-2009 school year, he said.

The Catholic school’s staff members might learn techniques for implementing their own drug testing program in the future to detect use of narcotics among the student body, Laurenti said.

“We think it’s going to be a good thing,” said Jeffrey Budz, principal of Joliet Catholic Academy, as he reflected upon the prospective drug testing program. If students “have nothing to hide,” the program shouldn’t affect them, he said.

The principal said he is concerned about how the testing will be handled by the IHSA. Budz said he hopes the organization will take proper measures when it comes to testing student athletes. He said he doesn’t want the tests to be “too invasive.”

Kurt Gibson, assistant executive director of the IHSA, told the Explorer that the testing will be conducted under the guidance of a medical review board. Licensed medical examiners are expected to test for drugs listed on the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s banned substances list, including anabolic agents, he said. “We won’t be testing for street drugs.”

When the IHSA-funded program is launched in the fall, it will make Illinois the first state in the nation to implement an encompassing drug testing program without a legislative mandate, said Gibson.

The board members of the IHSA are now in the process of finalizing a number of items. The group is working to find a firm to conduct the screenings and is striving to determine the exact scope of the testing program, according to Gibson.

The group is also assessing the specific penalties the IHSA will require for students who test positive and penalties for schools whose students are discovered to be engaging in these behaviors. The former will undoubtedly be a one-year suspension from high school sports. The latter is still under consideration by the IHSA’s board members, he said.

“It’s a good idea,” said Mark Smith, assistant athletic director at Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox. Board members of the IHSA are being “very proactive,” he added.

In recent years, many professional athletes have come under fire for using steroids and other performance enhancers. These players are role models for countless young people, said Smith. “They look up to them.” Many student athletes might feel that even though their heroes broke the rules, they still made millions of dollars. Recent developments might actually spur more young people to take performance-enhancing drugs, he speculated.

Mandatory health classes at Providence Catholic High School and other schools address the adverse impact performance-enhancing drugs have on the human body, said Smith. “But not everybody is going to listen.” The idea that they could be tested at any moment and suspended from play based on the results could work to deter them from taking the drugs, he said.

Coaches might want to consider submitting themselves to drug tests as well, Smith suggested. “A lot of them are built pretty good,” he said. Their examples might work to reduce anxiety among athletes when it comes to the new program. This could show students how hard work fuels muscle growth and physical performance rather than “taking the short and quick way,” he added.

Don Riley, athletic director at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, said he is skeptical about how effective the program will be in determining who is using performance enhancers. “They will be testing a small percentage of athletes,” he said. Unless every athlete is tested across the state, he said he is unsure how the program will work to eliminate the problem. “It all remains to be seen.”

While it might be a step in the right direction, Riley said he doesn’t view the proposed program as the ultimate solution to the problem. “We’re going to have to wait and see.”

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[02/01/2008]

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