Should Student Athletes Have Drug Testing

In many high schools around the country, student athletes are using drugs. “The percent of students that have drunk alcohol is 72.5% while the number of students who have used marijuana is 36.8%” (Report: Nearly Half of High School Students Using Drugs, Alcohol). The students believe that since they are athletes that they do not need to abide by the rules because they feel more superior and that the narcotic will not hurt or affect them. Implementing random drug tests for athletes will create a positive image and not hurt others or themselves. Schools need to have drug tests for student athletes because drugs effect relationships, using drugs have consequences, and lastly they have a major effect on the body.

Drugs in sports is becoming a problem everywhere. “Another 26-year old athlete died of liver cancer after taking a number of different types of steroids over a four year period ” (Drugs and…). This is significant because this shows how dangerous drugs can be. If we have drug testing in schools this student could still be alive and would have stopped drugs before it got bad. The evidence points to the fact that drugs are a major health risk that is very concerning. In some cases taking drugs can even lead to death. In addition, another situation took place that affected a college student named Bob. Bob tried everything to gain weight so he could play football, so he chose to try steroids like everyone else. Steroids got him to play professional football, but horrible things were happening to him. He was having serious health problems. Bob quit drugs and is lucky to be alive (Drugs and…). This connects to the fact that doing drugs is a major

Rains, B. (2009). Testing Student Athletes for Drugs is Appropriate. In C. Watkins, Sports and Athletes (pp. 192-196). Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

Drug use in school athletics has become a substantial problem in today’s society. With the rising pressure to succeed and the high level intensity in athletics, it does not come to a surprise that so many student–athletes are giving in to drugs. Many schools that are faced with drug use are turning to mandatory drug tests for student-athletes; however mandatory drug tests are a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment and drug testing reverses the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty. In order to protect the rights of the American people, drug testing student-athletes without suspicion and without sufficient evidence should not be introduced into school athletics due to the fact that it violates the Fourth

My evidence for this is that athletes and students should be drug tested for drugs if they have taken any before school. But this is why kids should take any drugs or smoke. My second reason is that the teachers and staff want the other students and athletes to be safe, and don't want them to take any drugs so then it doesn’t mess with the students and athletes learning in school. My evidence is that if students and athletes take drugs it can make them be crazy, also make them not to pay attention in school and, it could mess with their grades if they are not paying attention. So you should never do drugs. Someone’s counterclaim is that people should not be drug tested all the in the school year. Their statement was that “ I think drug testing throughout the school year is stupid, because we are a good school and no one here takes drugs.”

Many high school athletes oppose to drug testing, because they feel that it is not right. High school athletes shouldn’t be drug tested because it is very costly, a violation of rights, and student athletes won’t be able to play high school sports. In fact to drug test one 400 athletes at an average 24 dollars per student athlete (Ingraham).

With high school budgets dropping, and more athletes joining the sports teams the possibility of drug testing every athlete becomes less likely daily. School’s budgets cannot afford to test every student athlete. With prices rising and budgets dropping, the 100,000-dollar price tag to test 600 Florida high school students doesn’t look too appealing to the schools budget, which is why the program fell through shortly after. Also, in 2007, high schools in Texas performed more than 10,000 drug tests on student athletes but the program shrunk to thirty-three percent of its original size (“How Effective”). Knowing that the worth of a single dollar is plummeting and prices at an all-time high, is drug testing our student athletes necessary? To just test 600 students (the size of some senior classes) in Florida is roughly 100,000-dollars. Seeing schools waste money like that on unproven programs with limited results is shameful. Drug testing students in mass quantities or even testing at all is costing high schools a pretty penny and all drug testing programs are failing because of lack of funding. To get more in depth, to break down each individual testing price can cost schools a fortune. Now know, the cost of a single test can range between 15-35 dollars, which could lead to tens of thousands annually. Over an eight-year period Texas high schools spent an estimated 10 million dollars on urine tests for student athletes

In recent years the number of athletes caught using drugs has increased dramatically. The use of a illegal or unprescribed drugs can cause serious problems and unfairness in many ways. Certain drugs can cause harm to the user and the people around the user, most student athletes do not even know what they are putting into their bodies. With all the risks many persons propose student athletes to be drug tested at random.

Student athletes should be drug tested before they’re allowed to play because they might cheat,as the drugs could make them faster and

One reason why student athletes should not be drug tested is because it makes them feel bad about themselves. For example, In the article

Athletes should be drug tested before they are allowed to play because it is illegal and many athletes abuse drugs due to the belief that drugs will enhance performance performance. Really the drug just helps them for that one time then they are affected by the drug for the rest of their life. Are you willing to risk your life, and your career

Schools all over the world are debating if they should give drug tests out to athletes and club members. I have a very strong opinion about that; I think that all students should be drug tested if their parents approve of it. The reason I think this is because I know there is a lot of people out there that do drugs and need help. I think that drug testing can help most of them stop, but research shows that the percentage of people that do drugs increases if their school does drug tests. Another reason I feel this way is because I want to be a part of a drug-free school/area. Drugs are the worst thing in mankind. Drugs do nothing for people but hurt them. Sure there are drugs/steroids that can make people get bigger, but they just kill the insides of people. It’s pretty much like dumping a bottle of acid into a person’s insides. So now on to High School Drug Tests where they negatively affect students.

“Most schools have student codes of conduct and/or athletic codes of conduct that state illicit drugs are not to be used and most include tobacco as a banned substance”. The should drug test them because it would be safe for the school and can protect the kids from any harmful accidents. The sport the kid is playing could be harmful if he/she is taking drugs or any other substance. We need to stop the use of drugs in school and in sports. If we do that, then the community will be safer and the world will be a safer place.

I think it would be good for schools to have random drug tests for athletes because if an athlete uses drugs it can affect them. Yes, schools should do random drug test for athletes. Drug tests are usually in the form of urinalysis. Urinalysis drug test detect marijuana, cocaine and opioids. Schools do random drug test to see if students have substance use problems. Schools also want a drug free environment.

It seems that drugs have become a major epidemic within teenagers in the last few years. There is only so much that can be done to try and eliminate drug use, while not dramatically changing anything in the community. Drug testing the district’s student athletes provides many reasons that it is a worthwhile expense. Lawyers, Mark Vetter and Daniel Chanen, stated in the Sports Law Institute Newsletter “First, student-athletes were the leaders of the drug culture” (Vetter and Chanen ¶3). This simple statement proves that athletes need to be drug tested; it will improve multiple circumstances within the district and the lives of athletes. Drug testing student athletes at the high school level is a step every school district needs to take in order to improve their schools, and the students’ lifestyles despite the high price tag on these tests.