Drug Testing High School Athletes

[GrundyWinsAll 10]

I think that Athletes should be drug tested before they are allowed to participate. What do yall think? With Buchannan Co being one of the worst Drug Abuse Counties in the country, I am all for it.

[Guest BB_TWEEDER]

I would be up for it so that the real athletes (grades,being clean,and leadership due to not influenceing (spell check) that sort of thing), But how many athlete's would pass one? I know this county is one of the worse around and needs to get cleaned up.

[Blues_82 10]

[ QUOTE ]

With Buchannan Co being one of the worst Drug Abuse Counties in the country

 

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought that was Tazewell Co.?

[beaverbaseball 10]

Starting this fall athletes playing sports for the 2005-2006 seaons for Mercer Country will all be drug tested

[Narz_Wave 10]

I'm all for the drug testing if it's an across the board 100% test for everyone before the falls ports start and then random testing throughout the year.

[jeffro 31]

i think its a great idea, drug use is rampant in all the surrounding areas and its only a matter of time when someone "gets so hi" that an incident will occur on the field or at school

[goalie 10]

when u say drugs are u talking bout performince inhancment drugs or nercatices? (speel check) becouse i think it should be for both.

[RHSDE60 10]

goalie--narcotics

[goalie 10]

oh ok well some ppl r out of luck

[RHSDE60 10]

That is definitely the truth.

[Lance 228]

I think it's a waste of money myself...I don't think there is a "huge" problem with it at the HS level...perhaps a random testing program would be more appropriate...if there was a "reason" to think someone had a problem then maybe they should get tested and offered some help or something.

 

If you do test, what's the point? Is it to find the ones that have a problem and get them some help or just to get them taken out of sports? Is it because you don't want those kinds of kids around the other kids? More to it than just testing, what do you do with the results you get? Is the kid out for the year? Out of school to or just sports? What do you test for? Everything? How much would it cost and who's going to pay for it? This is not like the NFL or NCAA where you are dealing with big budgets and drug tests are going to cost if you test all athletes in all sports.

[goalie 10]

i would like to think that know on any team in our dis. is doing this but i know players are doing it. thats sad and i hope that they do this so that the players doing this CRAP can get help and quit.

[BigD4VT 11]

I think a drug test will indicate all drugs that are in the system.

[BigD4VT 11]

I don't think there is a huge problem with performance enhancing drugs at the HS level, but there is a narcotics problem in the area and I think we need a zero tolerance policy for HS sports. I don't know where the money would come from but I agree with one of the posts above that 100% should be tested at the beginning of the season then random testing the remainder of the year.

[Lance 228]

I don't think it's practical...maybe if there were some sort of instant test...but at this point I doubt it would be something that would work...plus I still think you are dealing with a very small amount of people who have any sort of problem.

 

I think drinking is more of a problem at the HS level than drugs are...more likely to have a car load of kids killed in a DUI related accident than you are an overdose.

 

There may be problems on every team...if there are then most of the time the other kids are going to know it's going on...not many secrets on a team. I think in that sense random testing would probably work better, if a coach thinks a kid has a problem then they could do internal testing and try to get the kid some help...I don't think taking a kid out of the system solves anything...kid screws up and does something stupid like that, gets busted, you can't just throw them out of school and trash them...at the same time you can't do "nothing" and let it go on...but I think it would be better to remove them from the team and get them some sort of help. Not a lot you can do though...it's easy to say that, but when someone has a real problem there is not a lot that can be done to get it straight unless they want to do it.

 

I honestly don't think there is THAT big of a problem in this area with the sports programs having kids using stuff that would warrant the $$$$ it takes to test every kid who plays every sport...on the other side, if you are going to do that, why single out the athletes? Why not test every kid in the system? What makes sports any different from the robotics team or the key club or 4-H or the band or whatever?

[djr4hurleyfb 12]

If there is any sort of drug testing to be done, I think it should be across the board:

 

Principal's

Teacher's

Student's 8 thru 12 (or whatever grades attend the High Schools)

 

Not just for athletes, but for EVERYONE. It should be done once a year minimum, but done randomly to flaw anybody capable of thwarting the results. This post spoke of the possibility of the problem amongst students, but I am of the viewpoint that this program (specifically, narcotic drugs) affects the faculty in this area to a higher degree than many believe.

 

Across the board.

[Fighton_3 10]

You have a lot of good points lance. I personally think that if a student is going to abuse drugs and still play sports, it's still going to affect their performance on and off the field. If the athlete is using drugs and rockin heads on the field then???? it should be their choice to do it or not. If the athelete understands the affect that it is going to have on their body and mind, and they care more about the feeling that the drug gives them than advancing physically and mentally, it's their problem. There is a big problem with drug abuse, but I don't think it's so much involved with the students that play sports as it is in the students that don't play sports. I think sports help kids shy away from drugs. Why put a drug test for something that is helping the problem? I think it's a big invasion of privacy also. What comes after the drug tests? Are we gonna be checked to see if we brushed our teeth every morning?

 

All in all, if schools do end up drug testing, it will be a waste of money, and many schools in our area will lose a lot of great athletes.

[GrundyWinsAll 10]

Lance,

 

Everyone would have to be tested. I have seen Drug screenings that are down to $5 per test. You pee in a cup and the colors that appear on the outside indicate the drug in the system. I think all drugs should be tested for. I know for a fact of certain people useing steroids( gaining 30 pounds in a summer is unnatural, but in consecutive summers, something is up.Not to mention they brag about it.)If everyone is tested the coach is not randomly picking around his star athletes. I hope that the "testing" will be revamped at all levels , not just pro sports.

[rhsfan88 22]

I beleive Fighton has a very good point. More people outside of sports in schools are doing drugs than the kids that are playing sports. If you give athletes the drug tests then that will push people away from something that is acutally helping the problem.

[goalie 10]

if any one needs a wisanater i have one for sale 20$ not used to much. does not have dryed pee with it.

[Lance 228]

$5 a kid...900 kids at Richlands alone...$4500...not "that" bad if that's all it costs. Last I heard it was about $35 a pop to test a kid...don't know what all that includes in that figure.

 

Well, I know Aaron has put on a lot of weight (muscle mass) through just working out over the past two summers...and I know for a fact he is clean...Garon has put on about 20 pounds of Muscle since last season over the summer and I know he is clean also...I'd bet the farm on both of them passing anything you throw at them...So it is possible to just work hard and get big...that said, point being - do you just test the ones who get bigger? Hard work shouldn't make anyone a target.

 

but, I do know what you are talking about and it's not a bad idea to do testing in the system.

 

I just don't think you single out the athletes...I like the idea DJ had and just test everyone if you are going to do it...plus you will have false positives in any testing, I suppose you could offer those people a blood test to determine exactly what happens...I dunno...I just don't agree with it overall, I think it opens up a lot of issues that would need to be thought out before anything went in to place...if a fair and productive system were worked out that tested everyone, was cost effective, offered help and assistance and wasn't just a witch hunt or a political ploy, I'd be all for it.

 

I just think it opens up to much room for problems...kid gets a back strain and takes something his parents have laying around in the medicine cabinate, pops positive, you just going to punish that kid like he has a "problem"? If this goes in to place it just needs to be done with a lot of consideration...that's all I think about it.

[goalie 10]

i dont know about yall but i would pay to take a drug test. just so ppl would know that im clean. and im sure that there are other ppl out there that would do the same thing to play the sport(s) they love. so go for it.

[GrundyWinsAll 10]

I mean if you want to play you would be tested(not all 900 at R'lands). I am not questioning people putting on 20 pounds of muscle in one off season, that is puberty. But when you go from 160 to 220 in one summer something is up. I think it is a deterant. I think that sports is this important to the kids. If they want to play, they will not be criminals. People who use drugs are criminals. If you let it continue these "high school role models" will continue to make it worse. In the end the athletes have a higher sence of pride because they are not like those piece of sh*t drug addicts and everybody knows because they are an athlete.

[Fighton_3 10]

This area will lose a lot of great athletes if drug testing is takin into action. If we decided to test everyone, it would both hurt and help the image of our rinky-dink corner of VA also at the same time. Because from one end, people see that the counties are doing something about drugs in schools, but from the other end, students and maybe even some teachers would fail the tests.

[beaverbaseball 10]

In my opinion I think it is a good idea to drug test high school Athletes. If you want to play sports you do not need to be doing any drugs. So not only will it help people stop taking drugs it will possible improve how they play. So im glad that Mercer County will be tested every Athlete this fall.

 

But there is no reason every student should be tested. Only students doing extra activies for the school