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Introduction to why student athletes should have to be drug tested
Mandatory drug tests for students
Introduction to why student athletes should have to be drug tested
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Should High School Athletes Be Drug Tested? Recent national estimates indicate that 14 percent of the U.S public school districts conducted a random drug testing in at least one of their high schools during the 2004-2005 school year. Although high school athletes are giving up their privacy when they are being drug tested, high school athletes should be drug tested before every game by law because it is the fastest way to prevent something worse from happening. In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled it was legal for teachers to randomly test students athletes. It would be worth the time and money so the school wouldn’t have to face worse drug related problems in the future. Since 2003, the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free
Between 1985 and 1989 the Vernonia School District began to see a marked increase in disciplinary problems, drug use by students, athletic injuries, use of drugs by athletes and a student body preoccupation with the drug culture. The school district adopted a policy requiring students who participated in interscholastic athletics to sign a consent of both routine and random drug testing.
Citius, Altius, Fortius is the motto of the Olympic games. Translated from Greek, it means "Faster, Higher, Stronger". Recently, Olympic contenders have been doing everything they can to live up to that motto. Most do it by training hour after hour, each day. Others try to do it by illegally taking performance enhancing drugs. This is why we need to test for drugs at the Olympics. Drug Testing in the Olympics began only recently in the 1968 Games held in Mexico1. Drugs are banned for two very good reasons: the use of drugs produces an unfair advantage, and it is hazardous to the athlete to take them. While drug testing is now commonplace, the procedures are still fairly primitive and arouse much controversy2. We all remember the Andreea Raducan situation from the Sydney Olympics. She unknowingly had consumed a performing enhancing drug that was in her cold medication. Her medal was revoked as soon as the drug test results got back.3 While Andreea was caught, many others who intentionally "doped up" weren't Many of the drugs or procedures out there, still can't be tested for, and more and more athletes are cheating. Most of the drugs and procedures have adverse long term effects, some resulting in death. The drug tests are detrimental to the existence of the Olympics and need to be upheld at all costs.
In the article, “Random Drug Testing of Athletes”, the author, Darla Tappins, argues that student athletes should not be required to participate in random drug tests. She provides six main reasons in effort to support her claim. These include the unfair stereotyping towards athletes who are no more likely to be involved in drug use than nonathletes, the unreliability and inaccuracy of the drug tests, the high costs of performing such tests, the unnecessary time consumption they require, the uncomfortability of those required to partake in them, as well as the inability of tests to detect steroid use, which is the most common drug exploited by athletes. Overall, the author does an ineffective job of proving her claim and evaluating
“Search and Seizure. Suspicionless Drug Testing. Seventh Circuit Upholds Drug Testing of Student Athletes in Public Schools. Schaill v. Tippecanoe County School Corp., 864 F.2d 1309 (7th Cir. 1988).” Harvard Law Review. 103 (Dec. 1989): 591-597.
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.
Should performance enhancing drugs be accepted in sports ? No, in my opinion, I think that is an easy way out of hard work and a way of cheating. Athletes use different kinds of drugs to improve their competitiveness and performances. Blood doping, stimulants, human growth hormone (HGH), and most commonly steroids are drugs used in sports. Many people that have the body that they have today worked hard every day for hours in exercising to get fit and to have the body that they always have wanted. Meanwhile, in the other hand, other people decide to go on the easy way out and insert drugs in themselves to build up faster and increase their ability in sports. I strongly disagree with the use of drugs in sports because, it's unhealthy, a way of cheating, and addictive.
Some may say that drug testing students is unconstitutional because it is an “invasion of privacy”. This, however, is not true. . . “In 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled that drug testing for high school athletes was constitutional, and some districts expanded their policies to include middle schools.” I believe allowing schools to drug test athletes was a very positive thing. For many reason, but mainly because athletes who are on drugs have a higher risk of being injured. For example a kid who is on drugs and plays a sporting event has a greater risk of their heart stopping on the field or court. “Drug tests analyze bodily samples such as urine, blood, or hair to detect the presence of legal and illegal drugs.” The most common one is urine testing. I believe urine testing is the best way for high school students, because it does not take as long as some other tests and it is not as costly as other tests. This is especially important because obviously a school does not want to spend money on anything they do not have to. Our school does randomly drug test students every once in a while but only a few of the athletes are chosen to take the test so that really is not helping ...
For centuries sports has been the favorite past time and for decades drugs, steroids and Performance enhancing drugs and regular street drugs have been used. In many locker rooms the motto is “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying” (Schafer). Over the past decades many see the need to drug test athletes in order to maintain integrity of the sports. Drug testing athletes has to many lawsuits and even has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court many times because some feel that drug testing is an invasion of there privacy. Albiet, drugs have increased the entertainment when watching sports, it has also decreased the sportmanship and integrity. Drug testing is a deterrent that is needed in all sports to decrease the number of unethical players while increasing the integrity of a given sport.
The use of Performance Enhancing Drugs(PED) has a major impact on athletes negatively and cause many problems in sports and competitions. These PEDs should be banned for athletes and competitors on any level because they are, unhealthy and harmful to the body, give users an edge over competitors, and it diminishes the true sportsmanship of the game itself.
“A medical dictionary defines a drug as ‘any substance that when taken into the living organism may modify one or more of its functions’” (Newton 12). However, when speaking of drug testing for abuse a person is usually thinking about illegal drugs or drugs that can alter athletic performance in sporting events. Mandatory drug testing was not allowed in public schools until June 2002 when the Supreme Court allowed for public schools to do random drug testing (Carroll 23). This decision allowed for drug testing in all schools throughout the United States not just for athletes but also students who are in any activities within the school, for example clubs and competitive events (Carroll 23). Even though drug testing is now allowed by the Supreme Court many schools do not yet have mandatory drug test policies. Mandatory drug testing for high school athletes should be required because it decreases drug use in schools, is relatively inexpensive, and can prevent drug use and or abuse that can lead to a lifelong addiction.
Drugs have been around for thousands of years but their reasons for being used has changed. Drugs were originally intended for medical uses. In ancient Egypt, physicians prescribed tannic acid to treat burns. The early Chinese and Greek pharmacies included opium used as a pain- killer, while Hindus used cannabis and henbane plants as an esthetic. With the advances in technology drugs have become more helpful yet more deadly.
It is amazing what athletes will do to achieve higher levels of performance and to sometimes get the extra edge on the competition. Most of the time people do not realize the long-term effects that result from the decisions they make early in life. This resembles the use of steroids in a person’s life.
The debate over the legalization of performance enhancing drugs also, known as PEDs, has been on the rise. Performance enhancing drugs are as the illegal drugs or substances that are taken by athletes to improve their performance. The term doping is used to describe the act of using PEDs. In the recent years many famous athletes have been convicted of PEDs abuse. Among these famous athletes is Lance Armstrong, a famous cyclist who won multiple titles of Tour de France. As the use of PEDs is becoming more common, controversy over the legalization has emerged.
Athletes And Drug Use Many people believe that drug use in professional athletics is not a serious problem, however it is more widespread and serious than people think. In professional athletics, the use of drugs is looked upon as somewhat of a serious problem, but is also very discrete and low key. Every once in a while one might see a prominent figure in a certain sport being reprimanded for the use of some outlawed drug, however this is just one of the many who happen to get caught. Athletes today seem to find no moral problem with using performance-enhancing drugs, or in other words cheating. Also, many of them feel that because they are "stars" there should be no repercussions for their illegal activity.
Many high schools across the country have brought much attention to the idea of giving random drug tests to students in high school. The newfound interest in student drug testing may be as a result of recent polls, which have shown an increase in drug use among high school students. Many teachers, parents, and members of school comities are for the drug testing, while most students and some parents feel that this would be a violation of students rights as Americans, which is true.