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Peter James, CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Barry Bonds has been indicted, Marion Jones was forced to give up her Olympic medals and Floyd Landis is still embroiled in a fight to keep his 2006 Tour de France title.
Athletes linked to drug use have experienced falls from grace in the past year and the assistant drug czar in the United States believes it is having a positive effect on young people.
Citing figures showing a 33% decline in steroid use among American teenagers, Scott M. Burns, the deputy director of state, local and tribal affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the constant stream of professional athletes being suspended for drug use is getting through to high school students.
"I think it has. If you see dramatic decrease on the heels of people going to jail and people losing their medals and people being sanctioned, I think they got the message loud and clear," he said in a conference call yesterday.
An anonymous survey of 40,000 American students aged 12 to 17 years old in 2001 showed that 0.9% had used steroids in the past month. By 2007, that figure dropped to 0.6%.
"It seems to be an overall incredibly positive trend among young people that they're getting the message," Burns said.
Although athletes like Bonds and Jones have never failed a drug test, enforcement agencies have gone after them in other ways. Bonds, for instance, was indicted last month for perjury and obstruction of justice.
"We're now using traditional law enforcement methods to find them and punish them," Burns said.
In recent years major professional spots organizations including Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have adopted new or tougher drug testing programs. Burns said the leagues must go even farther.
"We've been saying for a while now that just about every [international] sport organization has signed on to the[World Anti Doping Association] code," Burns said. "We don't control major league sports in the U.S. so we can't compel them to adopt the WADA code."
"We've been very vocal saying to all major league sport it's a new day," Burns added. "They need strong, much more effective drug testing programs."
While steroid use is down, the use of prescription pain killers is up in the United States. Young athletes can use painkillers as performance enhancers by taking them before games to create the aura of invincibility.
"The alarming two are Oxy-Contin and Vicodin," Burns said.
Burns believes high school student-athletes should be tested for drugs. States like New Jersey and Texas already have programs. In Canada, a high school in Winkler, Man., considered implementing a testing program in 2002.
"For one thing it's a great deterrent," Burns said. "And for the students we've talked to, it gives them a great excuse under peer pressure not to."
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Peter James, CanWest News Service Published: Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Barry Bonds has been indicted, Marion Jones was forced to give up her Olympic medals and Floyd Landis is still embroiled in a fight to keep his 2006 Tour de France title.
Athletes linked to drug use have experienced falls from grace in the past year and the assistant drug czar in the United States believes it is having a positive effect on young people.
Citing figures showing a 33% decline in steroid use among American teenagers, Scott M. Burns, the deputy director of state, local and tribal affairs at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the constant stream of professional athletes being suspended for drug use is getting through to high school students.
"I think it has. If you see dramatic decrease on the heels of people going to jail and people losing their medals and people being sanctioned, I think they got the message loud and clear," he said in a conference call yesterday.
An anonymous survey of 40,000 American students aged 12 to 17 years old in 2001 showed that 0.9% had used steroids in the past month. By 2007, that figure dropped to 0.6%.
"It seems to be an overall incredibly positive trend among young people that they're getting the message," Burns said.
Although athletes like Bonds and Jones have never failed a drug test, enforcement agencies have gone after them in other ways. Bonds, for instance, was indicted last month for perjury and obstruction of justice.
"We're now using traditional law enforcement methods to find them and punish them," Burns said.
In recent years major professional spots organizations including Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League have adopted new or tougher drug testing programs. Burns said the leagues must go even farther.
"We've been saying for a while now that just about every [international] sport organization has signed on to the[World Anti Doping Association] code," Burns said. "We don't control major league sports in the U.S. so we can't compel them to adopt the WADA code."
"We've been very vocal saying to all major league sport it's a new day," Burns added. "They need strong, much more effective drug testing programs."
While steroid use is down, the use of prescription pain killers is up in the United States. Young athletes can use painkillers as performance enhancers by taking them before games to create the aura of invincibility.
"The alarming two are Oxy-Contin and Vicodin," Burns said.
Burns believes high school student-athletes should be tested for drugs. States like New Jersey and Texas already have programs. In Canada, a high school in Winkler, Man., considered implementing a testing program in 2002.
"For one thing it's a great deterrent," Burns said. "And for the students we've talked to, it gives them a great excuse under peer pressure not to."
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Reader Discussion
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