Green Valley principal: Drug testing works

Green Valley High School's foray into random drug testing for athletes has created the kind of campus buzz that Principal Jeff Horn wants his students to experience.

They're talking about doing the right thing, Horn said.

They're talking about why drugs are bad.

They're also coming to grips with a harsh reality. Athletes who test positive for illegal substances jeopardize their eligibility to play or perform while in Nevada public schools.

"It's been a great success so far," Horn said of the random testing, which began Jan. 28.

"We've tested over 50 individuals now, and things have gone very smoothly."

There has been a positive test result, Horn said Friday. One student failed to pass random testing because of prescription medication. The prescription was verified with the parents, and the matter was quickly resolved.

"That worked exactly the way it was supposed to," Horn said.

Random drug testing of athletes is new to regular high schools in the Clark County School District.

Green Valley is well on its way to becoming an unofficial pilot program, for the state as well as for other local campuses. Horn said he's been contacted by at least four principals interested in creating their own random testing program.

"I am going to monitor what happens at Green Valley and work cooperatively with Clark County," said Eddie Bonine, executive director of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, which regulates high school sports.

Bonine said he has no way of predicting whether random testing will be embraced statewide. It's a question of philosophy, he said, and different communities may not want to follow Green Valley's lead.

There's also the question of funding, Bonine said. Green Valley has received private grants and is charging athletes a $10 fee to pay for the costs associated with testing urine samples. Schools in rural areas or less affluent communities may not be able to generate similar financial support.

Across the nation, random testing of athletes is being embraced by elected officials, parents and educators who see it as a counter-measure for illegal drug use, especially performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids.

New Jersey tests student athletes in championship games. Florida also has a pilot drug testing program for high school athletes. Illinois has plans to start one.

Texas is poised to launch the most ambitious public program of student drug testing in the United States. This spring, the state will embark on a two-year program to test up to 50,000 student athletes for steroid use. The program was mandated by the Texas Legislature, which earmarked $6 million for the program.

"It's the largest steroid-testing program in the nation," said Kim Rogers, communications director for the University Interscholastic League, which oversees high school sports in Texas.

The effort was fueled in part by research that showed about 2 percent of Texas high school athletes were using steroids, Rogers said.

At Green Valley, the testing covers a wider spectrum of illegal drugs.

Random drug-testing in high schools has become an increasingly common practice since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 cleared the way for authorities to do so.

But one leading researcher cautions that random testing is a limited tool, not a cure-all, in the effort to reduce drug use among teenagers. To test or not to test high school athletes is a decision that should be made only after everyone is clear on the intent.

If the purpose is only to identify individual users, drug testing can be an effective tool, said Dr. Linn Goldberg, who heads the Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.

But if the goal is to discourage drug use and educate teenagers on a large scale, then schools are better off spending their money on prevention programs.

"If you want to catch them at it and stick them in therapy, do it," Goldberg said. "But if you want to prevent drug use, testing's not going to do it."

Goldberg isn't anti-testing. He comes to the issue as a certified doping control officer for the U.S. Olympics' drug-testing program. His assessment is based on what he learned as the principal researcher for the first randomized clinical trial to assess whether drug testing is an effective deterrent.

Goldberg was surprised when the trial results showed that it's not. Results of the trial were published in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, a publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

The two-year study was conducted in 11 high schools within 150 miles of Portland. The schools were split into two study groups. One set designed a policy for drug testing and implemented it. The other created a policy but delayed implementing it until the study was concluded.

One of the most meaningful findings among student athletes subject to random testing: "The risk factors for future drug use worsened," Goldberg said.

At the schools with random drug testing, athletes were at-risk of being selected throughout the school year. However, the study found that the threat of random testing did not reduce substance use among athletes in the month before they responded to a series of surveys.

In addition, researchers were surprised to find that students at schools with random testing reported feeling less athletically competent and believed less in the validity of drug testing. It did not find that testing reduced the level of student participation in athletics.

The study, referred to as SATURN for Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

"You have to have a prevention program," Goldberg said, adding that the cost of one drug test for steroids could support prevention education for 10 students.

"You have to decide if you want to give students the skills to prevent use or give them the skills to avoid detection."

Goldberg said the SATURN study is the only random clinical trial that has extensively explored random drug testing. A 2003 University of Michigan study also found that random testing was not an effective deterrent for student drug use.

There is a need for more research, Goldberg said.

Horn is aware that data on student drug-testing are mixed.

For Horn, it's not about the research. Green Valley's policy of random drug testing grew out of a school/parent committee formed last year to identify and assist students with substance abuse problems. The group came together after baseball players were caught in possession of black tar heroin.

"If you can turn one kid around, throw the statistics out the door," Horn said. "We helped a kid."

Contact reporter Lisa Kim Bach at lbach @reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0287.