Pubdate: Sun, 18 Mar 2012
Source: Bryan-College Station Eagle (TX)
Copyright: 2012 The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Contact:  http://www.theeagle.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1132
Author: David Harris

TEXAS A&M, NCAA WORK TOGETHER TO ROOT OUT DRUG USE

Though performance-enhancing drug scandals have hogged sports
headlines for the past decade, administrators, athletic directors and
college coaches have shifted their focus to street drugs.

"We've talked with coaches, and they have a new worst nightmare," said
Andrea Wickerham, vice president for the National Center for Drug Free
Sport. "That is their pain almost on a daily basis."

On Feb. 15, four TCU football players were charged with selling
marijuana. After hearing of drug use on the team from a recruit, coach
Gary Patterson called for a surprise drug test of the whole team on
Feb. 1. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that five players failed
the test. Another 11 players had trace amounts within the margin of
error, and 86 players passed the test. Marijuana was the only drug
detected.

Karl Kapchinski, Texas A&M's assistant athletic director for athletic
training, said the number of players to test positive isn't surprising
- -- especially with the popularity of marijuana among collegiate athletes.

"It is the most prevalent," Kapchinski said. "And that's not going to
change anytime soon."

The bust gave attention to a problem that's been going on in sports
over the past few decades, said Tim Lightfoot, director of the
Huffines Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance.

Marijuana has a calming effect that can help athletes avoid getting
too hyped up or feeling too much pressure, which can hurt performance,
Lightfoot said. He added that doing the drug doesn't diminish an
athlete's level of function.

"With marijuana, you can maintain a high level of performance,"
Lightfoot said.

Wickerham referenced a survey the NCAA performed in 2009 that showed
an increase in marijuana usage among student-athletes. The NCAA
reported that 22.6 percent of 20,474 student-athletes participating in
an anonymous survey in 2009 -- the most recent data available --
admitted to using marijuana the previous 12 months. That number was up
from 21.2 percent in 2005.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," Lightfoot said of the
report.

Among the most profitable sports -- football and men's basketball --
across all divisions, 26.7 percent of football players and 22 percent
of men's basketball players admitted in 2009 to using marijuana the
previous year. Both were up significantly from the 2005 numbers (21.7
percent and 18.6 percent, respectively).

A&M not immune

A&M president R. Bowen Loftin said that all colleges deal with the
issue of illegal drugs -- whether it be athletes or
non-athletes.

"Universities are particularly susceptible due to the risk-taking
behavior prevalent in young adults and the peer pressure that is often
brought to bear on fellow students," he said in a statement.

A&M doesn't release any data due to a confidentiality agreement signed
by every student athlete when he or she arrives on campus. However,
there have been some newsworthy issues with the football program in
the past few years.

In 2009, offensive lineman Yemi Babaloa was convicted on two counts of
aggravated robbery and sentenced to five years in prison. The charges
stemmed from an incident where he and a friend robbed two men in a
College Station apartment during a drug deal in 2007.

Jorrie Adams and Erik Mayes were both dismissed from the team in 2005
after an undercover officer bought marijuana from them. The two were
arrested on misdemeanor drug possession charges. Those incidents
occurred under coach Dennis Franchione, who was at the helm from 2003
to 2007.

Former associate athletic director Tim Cassidy, who was as deep into
the football program as anyone under R.C. Slocum and Mike Sherman,
said that both coaches addressed the drug issues at the outset of
their tenures. Slocum, the winningest coach in program history,
remembers A&M being a place that hasn't struggled with drug-related
issues.

"The drug thing is part of our society, unfortunately," he said. "I
would say we had minimal problems, and every home I went to, I made
some point with the parent and the young man to make clear I had zero
tolerance for drug usage."

Cassidy has been in an administrative position at A&M, Nebraska and
now Arizona State. He said that he hasn't seen any difference in the
prevalence of illicit drugs at any of his stops.

"I haven't seen it more there [at A&M] than anywhere else," he said.
"When you have 120 kids on a football team, you're going to have the
issues that 120 18- to 22-year-olds have."

Former players Cyrus Gray and Bucky Richardson said that their
teammates were too focused on being athletes and all the
responsibilities involved with that to make the mistake of doing
drugs. Gray said former coach Mike Sherman had a simple policy during
his time from 2008 to 2011.

"He would say, 'If you want to do drugs, then you can't play
football.'"

Richardson, who played from 1987 to 1991, had a theory as to why his
teams didn't mess around with illegal drugs.

"Leadership helped to stop it," he said. "If I'm on that team and
football's important to me, it wouldn't make me happy to know that a
group on our team is doing that."

The testing policy

The drug testing process for collegiate athletes is seemingly
persistent and evolving. In fact, it's quite thorough, said Wickerham
of the National Center for Drug Free Sport. She visits universities to
critique the testing policy and visited A&M in 2001.

At A&M, athletes are subjected to a number of drug tests. The NCAA and
Big 12 tests all student athletes at the beginning of each season for
performance-enhancing drugs. At championship events and bowl games,
the NCAA also tests for street drugs.

For a student to fail an NCAA-administered drug test, he or she must
test for more than 15 nanograms per milliliter of THC -- the chemical
present in marijuana. A failed drug test at the NCAA level results in
a 365-day suspension and a loss of a year in eligibility.

Wickerham said that A&M, like 90 percent of Division I schools, also
administers its own tests that focuses on illegal drugs. It is issued
at the beginning of the fall semester to every student-athlete. From
that point on, A&M administers random tests. Kapchinski said a minimum
of 10 percent of team members are examined during a random test.

"Every sport is randomly tested at least twice a semester," Kapchinski
said. "Some of that is random selection and some sports get three or
four times."

A&M calls in Aegis Analytical Laboratories from its Nashville
headquarters to perform the testing. Kapchinski will tell the selected
players to come to him immediately after they get off the practice
field, meaning the players have less than two hours notice.

"They don't give you much time," Babaloa confirmed.

Once they get there, Aegis takes over.

"They come in and actually monitor the student athlete as they come
in, verify ID, check their stuff and witness them literally providing
the sample in the cup," Kapchinski said.

Once the samples are in hand, the labs test them, looking for any
illegal substances. A&M's policy is that an athlete tests positive for
marijuana if the sample provides more than 5 nanograms per milliliter
of THC, which is the lowest amount in which the lab can confirm a
positive test, Kapchinski said. The policy is "zero tolerance," he
said.

At A&M, all student-athletes are required to sign the Substance Abuse
and Education Form, which outlines the policy, testing and
consequences. One positive test means the head coach, along with
Kapchinski, decides the punishment. A player can be suspended
depending on the coach and the team's specific rules.

A player who tests positive gets red-flagged and is put on each random
list whenever his or her team is tested for the rest of their
eligibility, Kapchinski said.

"I tell them that it gives you the opportunity to prove to others that
you're doing the right thing," he said.

Following a second positive test, the athlete may be subject to
probation, individual discipline and suspension. The athlete must also
sign a second offense contract for the head coach. If the athlete
tests positive a third time, he or she is suspended from
participation. The athletic department can also assist the athlete in
looking for outside help.

Athletic director Bill Byrne said each coach on campus outlines a set
of team rules, which can be more restrictive than the department's
policy, but not less.

The system can be beat

"There is a way to beat the system," Kapchinski said. "It requires
some effort and energy, and if we do the testing right, it makes it
far more difficult. You can tamper, dilute your system. There are
products you can take that may or may not work."

Much like steroids, drugs have a way of evolving, and the
cat-and-mouse game now involves synthetic marijuana -- like brand
names "K2" and "Spice."

Wickerham said that synthetic marijuana involves blends of exotic
herbs and plants that are coated with synthetic cannabinoids like
cannabicyclohexanol, JWH-018, JWH-073 or HU-210, which give the user a
marijuana-like high. A news release issued by the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration in April 2011 said synthetic cannabinoids
are "designer drugs" that are "manufactured and distributed in an
attempt to circumvent the Controlled Substances Act."

"K2s were sold across the street [at the gas station] before they were
outlawed," Kapchinski said. "It's the same effects but it's far more
dangerous because it has far more negative consequences."

A study conducted by the University of Florida in 2011 found that one
in 10 college students had used synthetic marijuana and that it was
most prevalent among males.

The DEA banned the selling of synthetic marijuana in March 2011 while
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services further studied its
effects. The NCAA added synthetic marijuana to its list of banned
substances in August. However, it is not yet able to test for the
drugs. Wickerham expects the NCAA will be able to test for it in the
fall of 2012.

So what's the difference between marijuana and synthetic marijuana?
Wickerham said there are similar properties between them, but the high
is different and the side effects vastly differ.

"The side effects are horrendous from what we've seen and heard," she
said.

Because the drugs are produced in a lab, they can be more potent than
natural marijuana. According to the American Psychiatric Association,
synthetic marijuana use can cause lengthy bouts of psychosis.
Wickerham said that doctors have associated synthetic marijuana with
heart problems.

Anderson University basketball player Lamar Jack died of multiple
organ failure in October after ingesting a chemical used in synthetic
marijuana.

Three LSU football players -- defensive backs Tyrann Mathieu and
Tharold Simon and running back Spencer Ware -- were suspended for one
game in October after testing positive for synthetic marijuana.
Wickerham said they tested positive in a drug test initiated by the
school. Though the NCAA doesn't test for synthetics, there are some
laboratories that can test for the chemicals present in synthetic marijuana.

Kapchinski said that Aegis Laboratories tests for the drug, so all A&M
athletes are tested for synthetics. But it's something that can evolve
with certain chemical changes, he said.

"There are constant ways to change the chemical to change the
detection," Kapchinski said. "It's far more difficult to detect than
marijuana."

Is testing a deterrent?

When Byrne took over as athletic director in 2003, the current system
was already in place. The reason it hasn't changed, he says, is
because it is working.

"Student athletes will tell you so," he said. "I always say,
anecdotally, I've had reports from student-athletes that say there's
no doubt the drug testing policies we've had in place have helped them
stay away from using drugs in social situations, because they're going
to be tested."

Wickerham said that over the past 12 years, players have told her that
testing, along with education, is a sound deterrent to drug usage. She
said that the A&M athletic department had a sound policy that can't be
circumvented.

But the onus remains on the athlete.

"At the end of the day, if you want to use," Babaloa said, "you're
going to use." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.