Codey, task force order start of steroid testing

BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

TRENTON — Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey released the official report from the Governor’s Task Force on Steroid Use and Prevention last week.

He then signed an executive order making New Jersey the first state in the nation to take comprehensive statewide action to address the growing issue of high school steroid use.

And while the order included several actions to help curb the use of steroids, the one component that will turn the most heads deals with mandatory random steroid testing — believed to be the first state-mandated testing of high school athletes in the nation.

Under Codey’s executive order, student-athletes participating in NJSIAA championship events will be subjected to the random tests beginning with the 2006-07 school year. That should equate to roughly 500 students facing a steroid test next year.

By limiting the testing to those athletes, Codey hopes to gauge the effectiveness of the program before considering whether or not to extend the plan to include other high school students, even those who do not participate in school-sanctioned athletics.

“We’ve all seen the statistics and read the articles about the impact that steroids are having on kids. This is a growing public health threat, one we can’t leave up to individual parents, coaches or schools to handle,” said Codey. “This report puts us at the forefront in dealing with the problem of steroids. Today, we are putting this plan into action and becoming the first state in the nation to address this problem on a statewide level.”

It is estimated that about 13 percent of the nation’s high schools currently perform some form of steroid testing, with 15 schools in New Jersey either already testing or preparing to start testing next year.

Under Codey’s plan, the state will pay the anticipated $50,000 bill for the first year, avoiding, for the time being at least, what has long been the loudest argument against steroid testing at the high school level — the cost.

The reaction to Codey’s executive order has been a positive one, with many athletic directors, coaches and athletes alike applauding the move to implement testing.

However, some fear that only testing certain athletes will be viewed as discriminatory, arguing that all students should be subjected to the test from the outset. Others have taken issue with the timing of the testing, questioning why it can’t be done at the beginning of the season, and also question whether the results of the tests can be determined in a timely enough fashion to initiate any necessary penalties.

Yet another concern deals with what the length of the penalty will be, as well as how the penalty will be announced. As of now, positive results could lead to a one-year suspension, although the manner in which the suspension would be publicly handled has not been decided.

And then there’s the civil liberties issue, with several groups likely to lobby against the plan, calling it the parents’ responsibility to decide if his/her child needs to be tested.

While the concerns regarding the move are substantial, the general consensus seems to be that if the NJSIAA, the Department of Education and the school districts can find viable solutions to these concerns, that the implementation of steroid testing can only be viewed as a positive step in the right direction.

A series of stories appearing in all Greater Media newspapers earlier this year examining the prevalence of steroid use in local high schools found the majority of athletic directors, coaches and students in favor of steroid testing, as long as it was executed in a fair, random manner.

“I wouldn’t support [testing] if it was just athletes,” said Steve Antonucci, the head coach of Middletown South’s football team, the top-ranked team in the state the past two years. “It [should] be schoolwide. Why punish the athletes? I like the idea of testing kids, as long as it’s random testing of every student. That’s the only fair way to do it.”

Antonucci’s feelings are shared by several of the top school administrators and coaches in the state.

“I just think if you have testing, it should be the whole school,” said Brick Memorial head wrestling coach Dean Albanese.

But nearly every person interviewed agreed on the need for steroid testing at the high school level.

“[Steroids] are illegal, and there’s nothing wrong with testing for them,” said Woodbridge High School football coach Brian Russo, a former Division I football player. “It only takes one really misinformed kid out there trying these things, and if you can save him, it’s worth it.”

Codey signed the executive order at Seton Hall Preparatory Academy, where he was joined by members of the task force, including Monsignor Michael Kelly, task force chairman and headmaster at the academy, Peter King, award-winning journalist for Sports Illustrated, and Lisa Brady, superintendent of South Hunterdon Regional High School.

Codey created the task force in July in response to national statistics demonstrating a growing use of steroids among high school students. Last year, 3.4 percent of 12th-graders nationwide admitted to using anabolic steroids at least once, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). That’s up 67 percent since 1991. In addition, 2.4 percent of 10th-graders and 1.9 percent of eighth-graders said they have used anabolic steroids at least once, according to the NIDA.

Codey charged the task force with conducting a study to determine the breadth and scope of the problem in New Jersey. The task force divided itself into five subcommittees to address the following components: research, education, testing, health/psychological effects of steroids and nutritional supplements, and steroids and college athletics.

In doing so, the task force spoke to national experts on the subject, interviewed high school students, held a statewide educational summit for coaches and athletic directors, and held public hearings to gain additional input.

Based on their findings, the task force compiled a broad list of recommendations to address the growing problem, starting with the introduction of steroid testing, but also including the following:

• Steroid education should be built into programs currently being used in New Jersey schools, such as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. DARE steroid education should be introduced at the fifth-grade level.

• Each school district should utilize programs such as the ATLAS (Athletes Training and Learning to Avoid Steroids) and ATHENA (Athletes Targeting Healthy Exercise and Nutrition Alternatives) models of steroid prevention for high school students.

• Integrate information on steroids, including prevention strategies, strength-building alternatives and the understanding of health food labels, into health and physical education curricula at the seventh-and eighth-grade levels.

• Develop a curriculum on steroids for high school health and physical education teachers to implement into their classroom instruction.

• Conduct semiannual or annual workshops for coaches and athletic directors in identifying the components of steroid abuse/use and prevention strategies.

• Randomly test dietary supplement products for sale in New Jersey to detect steroid contamination.

• Impose monetary and criminal penalties on manufacturers and owners of retail, Internet, and mail-order establishments selling the contaminated products.

Tuesday, Codey turned those recommendations into action, signing the executive order that will address many of the report’s major recommendations.

Other recommendations included in the report may require legislative action to implement. According to Codey, his administration will continue to examine these recommendations in the coming weeks to determine the best course of action.

A full copy of the report from the Governor’s Task Force on Steroid Use and Prevention can be viewed at www.nj.gov/steroids/finalreport.