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Program to Cost $10,000 to $15,000 Annually : SDSU to Begin Testing of Athletes for Drug, Alcohol Abuse

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Times Staff Writer

About 600 student-athletes at San Diego State University will begin undergoing mandatory testing later this spring to detect drug and alcohol abuse.

The urine tests will help campus officials determine whether their 2-year-old drug education program has had an impact on students, said Mary Alice Hill, the university’s athletic director.

Athletes who refuse to submit urine samples will be forbidden from playing with their teams but can keep athletic scholarships, Hill said.

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If an athlete’s first urine test indicates possible drug or alcohol abuse, he or she will be required to meet with the team doctor and a counselor. The coach will be called in if problems resurface in the second test.

A positive third test might result in a suspension.

The test, which will be conducted several times a year, can distinguish between mild and heavy drug or alcohol use. The test also can check for the presence of steroids, which some athletes take to build muscle mass.

The Student Advisory Board is in the process of devising punishments for students found to be consistent drug or alcohol abusers, Hill said.

“What we’re finding is that the student’s peers tend to be tougher than the coaches or administrators would be,” she explained.

Each urine test will cost SDSU $60, she added. The tests will be conducted by the McDonald Center for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Treatment at Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla.

The tests are expected to cost the university $10,000 to $15,000 a year, Hill said, with the money is to be supplied by private donations.

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“Close to 89” colleges nationwide currently perform such tests, Hill said, including Utah, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, Wyoming, Georgia and Notre Dame.

The crisis of drug abuse among athletes is illustrated by San Diego Padres second baseman Alan Wiggins’ admission to a chemical rehabilitation program, Hill said.

There’s no evidence that SDSU’s student-athletes suffer from major drug or alcohol problems, Hill said.

And, Hill stressed, the decision to begin tests doesn’t mean the educational program “was a failure. Some people thought it helped a lot.”

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