New Jersey high school steroid testing yields one positive result

December 13, 2017 / Sports Medicine

New Jersey’s random drug testing program for high school athletes yielded just one positive result during the 2016-17 school year.

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) tested 502 student-athletes in six boys and seven girls sports, according to MyCentralJersey.com. The state tests for 80 banned substances, including anabolic steroids.

Testing programs can be an expensive venture for states, and Texas is among those that folded their programs when they turned up only a handful of positive results. According to the article, tests cost around $200 per athlete, and the program is jointly funded by the NJSIAA and the state. It costs nearly $100,000 annually.

But while some states are abandoning their testing programs, NJSIAA Executive Director Steve Timko sounds interested in expanding it.

From MyCentralJersey.com:

“The more students we’re able to test, the more information we’ll have about the scope of drug problem, and the better positioned we’ll be to halt it,” said Timko, regarding the program that’s co-funded annually by NJSIAA and the state of New Jersey, with each contributing $50,000.

“It’s terrific that only one student tested positive this year, but we really need the means of testing more broadly to better assess the level of substance abuse. In particular, we’re looking to test for opioids, given the current epidemic.”

Earlier this year, Illinois decided it would no longer fund its PED testing program, instead focusing its efforts on education.

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drug testing, high school sports