Does your HS drug test athletes?

Drug test for what? PED or illegal substance?

Ours test randomly. Mine has probably tested twice in 3 1/2 years. A couple of kids have flunked for pot. A couple have refused to test and just quit playing whatever sport they were in at the time.

I'm not sure of the rules, but I think the first offense is a suspension for a game and counseling. The next offense gets you kicked off. I'm pretty sure the ones who refused to test had already failed their first one already, so they knew they were done.

As for PED's, I remember the school board announcing they were going to be the first in the state to test for steroids.This was well before my son was in high school, maybe 10 years ago. I thought then, do they know how expensive that will be, even on a random basis? Heard very little after the initial announcement. I'm pretty sure they test for the normal stuff that would be on an employment drug screening.

I'm pretty sure that they claim to test for steroids, but that they don't actually do it.

Yes, ours does randomly as well.  About once a week, someone will come by practice and pull a player aside for pee test.  Sounds about the same as Stafford's experience.  I think we have had one, maybe two fail for pot over the last several years in baseball.

No and I hope they never will and I'll never support having it at any school I'm at.  As Stafford alluded to the cost of testing versus how many you catch don't make it worth it.  What people don't realize is you cannot test ONLY athletes.  It has to be every single after school activity - band, drama, cheer, whatever - due to you cannot single out a certain group and only test them.

The average cost is about $40 - $50 per test.  So if you test 30 kids you're spending $1200 - $1500 to find out that the vast majority of kids are clean.  The last school I was at did random testing and they only caught one kid in two years of testing before I left.  The question is - who pays for this?  I know as AD my school's athletics budget would have a hard time coming up with this number AND provide equipment / officials / transportation / etc......  If the board of education is paying for it then why not spend that money on something else productive?

Several states in the past couple of years has made it mandatory to pass a drug test to get welfare benefits.  They are now finding out that the cost of doing that is not worth it.  The originally tied the testing in the law to the applicant had to pay for the test.  I have no problem with that but I didn't figure it would last.  The ACLU has sued against this due to violating the 14th Amendment of unreasonable searches and seizures.  In Florida out of the 4,086 who applied that had to take the test only 40 came back as positive which is 2.8% of those tested.  Is it really worth it if tax dollars have to pay for it?  At the high school level is it really worth it if we have to fund raise for it?

At the high school level I think by making testing mandatory (random or not) is stepping over the lines of parenting.  It's a parents job to make sure their child is clean or not.  Yeah a good coach / teacher can help teach about not doing them but ultimately it's the parents job - not the school, coach, team or teacher.  Now if a kid shows up showing signs of being intoxicated or high then by all means arrest them (if there is enough probably cause) then test them.  But that's another issue.

Unless the school is randomly testing every extra-curricular group, personally I have a philosophical issue with testing athletes for illegal drugs.

edit: coach2709 pretty much summed up my thoughts.

My son's school does random tests on all students.

My son got tested just the other day with a group of 30 kids.  Course he also just started dating the principal's daughter as well.  Hmmm

BTW his test results were mailed to home and they tested for about 10 different drugs.  Some I didn't even know and had to ask him what they were.  Synthetic stuff mainly.  Found that part a little alarming.  Guess I need to get a bit more educated.

Both

Yes.  As I recall I did have to give written authorization that he could be selected when the kids entered middle school, so it must be an opt in program.

Yes it supposed to be random but my son has been tested at least once each year while the kids everyone knows are using seem to never be selected.

Random testing for all students in any extra-curricular activities. Students have ID numbers that are randomly drawn and urin samples are taken.  They test for drug use and PED's.  They only test a few of the samples to keep the cost of testing down and still maintain the threat of being caught. This process is never explained to the students. 

If you want to test athletes for PED use, I get it.  If schools want to blanket test for whatever they want, whenever they want they're stepping into matters that should be left up to the parents.

Currently our school does not but they are studying the issue.  It would not be just for sports but for participation in any extra curricular activity.  

The only drug testing at the high school my kids attended was done on lockers. My kids joked if there was a surprise assembly chances are the police were running drug sniffing dogs past all the lockers. They did find pot and a gun in one kid's locker. He spent the rest of high school at Juvie High.

At one point the state athletic association costed out random drug testing. They decided it was cost prohibitive.

My public high school did random tests multiple times per year, unannounced, and at different times of day for anyone involved in extracurriculars. I had to test a couple of times over four years. If you claimed you didn't have to pee, you sat there and drank water until you were ready. Some kids would drag this out for hours and hours. They'll wait for you. If you're in the middle of a test, too bad. You can finish it in the urine testing waiting area. 

The bathroom was rigged to prevent cheating. The toilet was tinted blue so you couldn't scoop that water into the cup. The sample was tested for temperature as soon as you hand it in to assure that you didn't put water from the sink in there. You had to empty your pockets before going in and show that they were still empty when you came out. I know of one person who beat the test and it involved a miraculous breach of protocol by the tester as well as fitting pill bottles into the athlete's behind.

The thing I never understood was the fact that some people would fess up rather than take the test. The testing protocol involves asking if you've had anything that would make it a positive test -- this is meant, I believe, to help you clear up confusion about prescription drugs that would flag you -- and kids would admit to smoking pot right then and there, which is indeed tantamount to a failed test. If you knew you had smoked pot, why not roll the dice on the test not picking it up?

To be fair all students need to be in the drug testing pool.  

The IHSA does random testing during the state series. My school does not randomly test as far as I know, but my previous school did. The principal told me they could go into their computer system and pulled 5 names from all of the extra curricular activities. Unfortunately they had a little more "success" with catching kids....

i have to do hydration testing ech year with wrestlers. It's a similar process as drug testing. And a major pain!