cannabisnews.com: Drug Testing to Continue for High School Athletes!





Drug Testing to Continue for High School Athletes!
Posted by FoM on July 15, 1999 at 05:37:03 PT
Source: Star Tribune
JANESVILLE, Wis. The Janesville School Board decided to spend about $26, 000 for random drug tests at two high schools, but discontinued a high-priced test for steroids.
The $138 tests for steroids are too expensive and have proven unnecessary, some board members said. None of the athletes tested last year came up positive for steroid use. The district would have paid nearly $3, 600 to continue steroid testing this year. " That' s a pretty big loss of money for something we' re not even sure is an issue, " board member Thomas Wolfe said. Craig High School and Parker High Schools High school athletes will be tested for nicotine, alcohol, marijuana and other illegal drugs, the school board ruled Tuesday. The board' s 8-1 vote renews its 1-year-old policy of random drug testing. Prohibited substances were found in the urine of 13 of 979 random urine samples last school year. Six students tested positive for marijuana and seven for nicotine. Calling the program an invasion of privacy, board vice president Ted Kinnaman voted to discontinue the random tests. He also said it was ineffective in rooting out alcohol use, which he called the district' s biggest problem. Even next-day drug tests have hard time detecting alcohol because the substance only remains in the bloodstream 10 to 12 hours after consumption. " It seems kind of strange that we' re going through this whole process for something that won' t even show up in the tests, " Kinnaman said. No urine tests conducted on athletes last year indicated the consumption of alcohol. But other board members argued that the tests served as a deterrent to drinking for some students. The $30 per alcohol test cost is relatively cheap compared to other tests, they said. " If we discontinue (alcohol testing), that does give kids even more reason to drink, " board member Caryn Oleston said. Published Thursday, July 15, 1999 Copyright 1999 Associated Press. 
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