Drug testing High School athletes
There is a huge amount of drugs being used in High Schools today and there is no end in sight. Most students know someone who has used drugs before, or knows someone who can get them drugs. Drug abuse is common among teenagers who have used drugs before. With so many teenagers using drugs, many of them are athletes. Athletes who are using drugs, either recreational or even Performance Enhancing Drugs are more likely to get seriously injured or seriously injure another player/teammate. Student athletes who use PEDs or other drugs need caught and penalized. Performance Enhancing Drugs pose serious health issues for student athletes who use them. Drugs are addicting, once a student athlete does
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Many schools, alarmed by the massive numbers of overdose, have already put a random drug testing program in place at their district (Stein). If the school puts a program in place with harsh punishments, then maybe students will try and get help and quit whatever drug they are on. The numbers of high school athletes using drugs is very high, “More than 16% of High School students admitted to the use of banned substances” (Rosenthal). For every 100 students in your high school, statistically 16 of them use some type of Performance Enhancing substance that is banned. Many families of the teenagers who are using, do not know that the kids are doing drugs until too late, if families want to know for sure if their child is using, random drug tests within the school is the way to do that (Beck). Many students want and need help, but they are afraid to face their parents and tell them. Drug tests might help that issue too. Parents will get the results and figure out, without the student athlete having to face them and tell them. For the schools that have the random drug testing program already in place, there has been a significant decrease in the drug flow throughout the school