Federal government pays for steroid testing Palm Beach County high school athletes

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Palm Beach County to test high school athletes for drugs, alcohol
Palm Beach Post, United States
High school athletes will have to submit to random testing to detect the use of alcohol as well as illegal and widely abused prescription drugs under a policy preliminarily approved Wednesday by the Palm Beach County School Board.

If the board gives final approval next week, the same company that tests district employees for drug use would randomly test this season's baseball and softball players at six high schools.

The nearly $198,000 three-year pilot program, funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant, eventually would expand to more sports and all high schools. That would make it one of Florida's largest athletic drug testing ventures.

Testing would ensure that students are safe on and off the fields and that they get treatment if needed, said Kim Williams, assistant director of the prevention center in the department of Safe Schools.

"I think people look at this as punitive. It's not punitive at all," Williams said.

The tests would not detect steroid use, at least not at first. That's because the Florida High School Athletic Association already was randomly testing for steroids when the grant was written.

The state organization tested 600 athletes in several sports last year, but funding from the Florida Legislature ran out. It's unlikely funding will be renewed, considering this year's budget crisis, a spokeswoman said.

Steroid testing could be added to the school district program, said Elaine Taulé, who wrote the grant and is president of Delray Beach-based NMS Management Services Inc., the company that would administer the tests.
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