Pubdate: Thu, 09 Jul 2015
Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
Copyright: 2015 The Arizona Republic
Contact: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/sendaletter.html
Website: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/24
Author: Megan Cassidy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

PHOENIX HALTED RANDOM STEROID TESTS FOR POLICE

Groundbreaking Program Was Quietly Ended Last Year

Phoenix police pioneered an antidoping policy that took hold in 
police agencies across the country when the department implemented 
random steroid testing nine years ago, but the agency suddenly and 
quietly shut the program down last year. Frank Lloyd Wright (left), 
Hilla Rebay and Solomon R. Guggenheim, with a model of the latter's 
namesake museum.

Department administrators cited excessive costs and test results that 
were muddled by the prevalence of legal supplements and testosterone 
that was legally prescribed to officers.

In 2006, Phoenix became the first major city in the nation to add 
anabolic steroids to the list of illegal substances to be randomly 
screened from its ranks.

Police in the Valley and across the country were juicing to get a leg 
up on the criminals, but rumors and unflattering media reports tied 
the practice to a darker side of law enforcement.

Officials worried that excessive or improper use of force would be a 
dangerous side effect of "roid rage" with a badge.

Phoenix's policy became particularly relevant in 2007, when police 
and firefighters across the Valley were swept up in a U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Administration probe into doctors improperly passing out 
prescriptions. At least 12 Phoenix officers and 12 firefighters were 
linked to the investigation.

The city became a model for the practice over the years, prompting 
officials from the New York Police Department and other agencies to 
tap Phoenix officials for advice on their approach. Cities such as 
Mesa, Albuquerque and Dallas instituted similar policies.

But the program quietly dissolved in 2014, and police say sworn 
officers are now only tested for the substance on a "for cause" basis.

The testing may be triggered by a specific incident or if officials 
receive information from a family member, witness or co-worker that 
would indicate illegal usage, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police 
spokesman.

"It is still a controlled substance without a doctor's prescription," 
Crump said. "It's been removed from the random drug-screen panel, but 
any use without a doctor's care it is still prohibited."

Costs associated with the additional testing in the cash-stretched 
agency were at the root of the program's termination, said Will 
Buividas, treasurer of a police-labor union, who was privy to 
discussions on the issue.

A urine sample can be tested for marijuana, Valium, methamphetamine 
and a host of other illegal substances at about $10 per test. But 
steroid screening is run through a separate process called liquid 
chromatography-mass spectrometry, and it is up to 20 times as expensive.

Complicating the issue were steroid-mimicking substances in 
supplements and prescriptions that triggered a positive test. Even 
when a test turned up positive, the results were rendered debatable 
by the legalized means of beefing up.

"We're in a different time," Buividas said. "Testosterone replacement 
therapy is extremely prevalent."

At the time that the policy was challenged in late 2013, there were 
about six active cases in which employees were seeking medical 
attention for testosterone therapy, Crump said.

Because of these justifications, severe discipline was rare even for 
those who tested positive during the policy's seven-year stint.

Since the beginning of 2012, only one officer has come before 
Arizona's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the state's 
entity for certifying its sworn employees.

Former Maricopa County sheriff's Deputy Jason Graff was terminated 
after admitting to illegally purchasing and then using 20 milliliters 
of the steroid testosterone.

The Sheriff's Office does not have a steroid-screening policy, 
according to a spokesman.

Current Phoenix police policy dictates that officers, assistant 
chiefs and commanders be tested at least once every three years for 
controlled substances such as alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, 
marijuana, opiates, acetylmorphine (a substance found in heroin) and 
phencyclidine (PCP).

The random steroid testing remains in some agencies like Mesa, which 
runs a lottery screening program monthly.

Experts say there is no reason to believe that the use of 
performanceenhancers is any less common today than it was in the mid-2000s.

"There's no real way to stem the tide, so to speak, as far as access 
to steroids, and there's no prospect in the near future that use of 
them is going to decline," said Dr. Harrison G. Pope, director of the 
Biological Psychiatry Laboratory at Harvard's McLean Hospital.

"We are going to continue to see its use with law-enforcement 
officers," he said.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom