njbb - with regard to the players released last year in Nashua, 7 were drinking, one was not but he was cut along with the rest of them. The athletic contract clearly states that athletes found to be in the presence of drugs or alcohol are assumed to be using. That avoids the "I was just holding it for someone else" argument or the "here, just hold this for me" trick.
In this case, several of the young men went home drunk. Their parents contacted the parents of the young man at who's home they'd been drinking, and the young man's parents made him come clean to the coach.
There is no he said/he said here. If you were present and you knew the rules, you're cut. There are a lot of other infractions in the athletic contract that don't carry as heavy a penalty, but getting kids to make the right decisions when it comes to drugs and alcohol can be a matter of life and death, so its taken very seriously.