New Jersey will soon become the first state to test high school athletes for steroids. Former Governor Richard Codey signed an executive order last December requiring random tests of students who participate in championship tournaments. Any student athlete found to be using illegal performance enhancing drugs would be suspended from competition for one year.
Mr. BOB BAILEY (New Jersey Athletic Association): We reviewed it just like a physical. We're making sure students when they enter an athletic contest will be healthy and won't be injured. We know that steroids has a harmful effect on anybody that takes them. So, I think we're talking health and safety first.
SOLOMON: Predictably, the ACLU of New Jersey begs to differ. Deborah Jacobs, the chapter's director, says it's not for the state to decide what kind of medical tests children should take.
Ms. DEBORAH JACOBS (ACLU, New Jersey): Having the school make the decision to subject a child to a medical examination really undermines the authority of the parent and the family privacy in that kind of decision making. So, this is something where really the government's trying to take on a roll that doesn't belong to it. It belongs to parents and it's a private family issue.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse says steroid use among teenagers peaked in 2002 and is now in decline. One study found that 1.5 percent of high school seniors took steroids in 2005.
SOLOMON: The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association is expected to approve the testing plan on June 7th. The program would test 500 of the 10,000 students who participate in championship tournaments, beginning with the 2006-07 school year, which means the first drug test will probably be given before the tournaments in late fall.
Source: All Things Considered (NPR), MAY 29, 2006
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