Greg Norman, a golf pro, has called for the sport to institute more intensively drug testing, using blood tests rather than just urine tests. His statements were a response, in part to an admission by another golf pro, Vijay Singh, who recently admitted that he had utilize an illicit deer antler spray on himself which contained a banner substance, but that it remained undetected and himself unscathed.
Lil Scrappy, a former recording artist more known recently for his role starring in a TV reality show, has been incarcerated for flatly refusing to submit to a drug test ordered by a court. The court ordered the testing after Lil Scrappy was arrested last year for violating the terms of his probation on a drug (marijuana) possession charge he was convicted on approximately five years ago.
An anti-drug group known as the San Tan Valley Substance Abuse Coalition, located in Arizona, recently passed out free drug test kits to numerous residents in the community. This was part of an effort on their behalf to oppose April 20, also known as 420, which some characterized as “National Get High Day,” when many young people smoke marijuana. The effort was carried out with help from notMYkid.org, a nationwide anti-drug non-profit organization that engages in educational anti-drug efforts aimed at increasing awareness by parents of the dangers it says drugs pose to young people.
Random drug tests carried out on high school athletes at a Florence, Arizona high school revealed that there was actually very little drug use by the students there. The tests were imposed on a mandatory basis at the Florence Unified School District for a period of approximately four years. In all that time, although 407 drug tests were administered, a tiny handful of tests, only three to date came back positive for drug use. All other students passed drug test successfully. This means that the high school student athletes there are over 99 percent drug free.
Corey Knebel, a baseball player on a team fielded by the University of Texas, has been suspended from the team because of accusations that he assisted one of his teammates in improperly circumventing a required drug test by supplying his friend with a clean urine sample. The teammate evidently feared that if he submitted his own urine sample to the mandated drug test that he would test positive for the use of the stimulant Adderall.
Sports authorities in the world of international professional tennis have adopted a more rigorous drug screening program intended to more thoroughly ferret out player misconduct. Known as a “biological passport” program, the screening would involve tracking data about a tennis player’s blood over a period of time, and increasing the frequency with which screening tests are conducted.
A six year university research study recently released claimed to prove that doing drug testing among middle school students helps to reduce the likelihood that they will engage in drug use in the future. The study was conducted in New Jersey and involved a total of approximately 3,500 students attending high school and middle school.
A company involved in doing drug tests in Colorado, where voters opted last fall to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, claims that the measure has been followed by a large increase in the number of children using pot. School districts in the state have increasingly called on the company to administer drug screening tests on students on a weekly rather than monthly basis. The company claims that in addition to a larger number of students failed drug tests, those who use drugs are doing so more often.
In the last two years, the number of job applicants failing employer required drug screen urine tests has increased by 5.7 percent. While this represents an increase in apparent drug use, it must be put into perspective. In the first six months of 2012, approximately 3.4 million urine drug screening tests were submitted to labs for analysis, of which only around 2 percent of them resulted in positive results for the use of marijuana. The results for all other drugs tested for was even lower.
Major League Baseball player Gio Gonzalez, a member of the National’s team, has been certified, after testing, as free from use of performance-enhancing drugs. He passed urine drug test as well as blood test ordered by the players association after his name surfaced in the records of an anti-aging clinic accused of providing such drugs to Major League Baseball players.
