Doctor Says Every College Has Drug Problem

The chairman of the NCAA committee on drug education says every college in the country has a drug problem, and that an effective testing program acts as a deterrent to abuse by athletes.

Dr. Robert J. Murphy, an associate clinical professor of preventive medicine and the head team physician at Ohio State University, says he has data showing that in the last five years 20% to 25% of college athletes use marijuana or cocaine--some use both--on an average of once a week.

Murphy, also the chairman of the NCAA’s committee on drug education, provided information presented to the Big Ten Conference Awareness Committee on Alcohol and Drug Abuse that found 36% of 2,039 athletes in a 1984 NCAA survey had used marijuana within the previous 12 months, 17% cocaine, 8% amphetamines and 6.5% anabolic steroids.

A 1984 multi-college survey compiled by Heitzinger & Associates of Madison, Wis., found that of 2,100 athletes at 12 colleges, 27% used marijuana and 14% used cocaine.

“Every college in America has a drug problem because it’s a reflection of our society and of the student body,” Murphy said during an interview. “Drug use among athletes is approximately 50% that of the general student population.”

Murphy said that seldom does anyone use just one substance, instead mixing marijuana with alcohol or cocaine with alcohol. Murphy said he has a peer who called athletes “chemical gourmets.”

Murphy said that when an Ohio State athlete is detected using drugs: “We feel they should not play. If they have drugs in their system, they run the risk of injuring themselves as well as causing other players to be at risk because of their lack of performance.”

The solution, Murphy said, is drug testing as a deterrent, not as a way of punishment.

“The Olympic program of testing is based upon identifying (people who test positive for drugs) and of punishing them. Our program (at Ohio State) and the one I advocate is based upon, first, to deter use, and second, to identify the kids with problems and try to get them clean.

“We work with some for two or three years,” Murphy said. “If they are in treatment for two or three years and we eventually get them clean, well, that’s our goal.”

Murphy said that every athlete, coach, trainer, team physician, manager and other staff member affiliated with the program at Ohio State is tested. In the 1984-85 school year, Murphy said Ohio State tested three men’s teams and two women’s teams and that 5% of the urine samples showed use of illegal substances.

He added that in tests of four men’s teams and five women’s teams during 1985-86, 1.5% came up positive.

“We consider that (random, weekly) drug testing has proven to be a major deterrent to drug abuse during the season,” Murphy said.

He said that when an athlete tests positive the first time, they are rechecked by a second test. So-called “false-positives” occur in less than 1% of the tests, Murphy said.

On the determination of a positive on the first test, the athlete is placed on probation but is not disciplined by the coach by a loss of playing time. For the remainder of his or her college career, the athlete must submit to weekly tests. Positives are cumulative, so that if an athlete fails a test as a freshman and then again as a senior, it is still a second positive.

A second drug test failure brings intrasquad discipline. Starters do not start, those on the traveling squad are left at home and those who are on the non-travel squad are taken off the training table.

The athlete is suspended on a third positive test. He may be reinstated if he is declared clean for a period of four to six weeks, Murphy said.

“Every player who has been suspended over the last two years (at Ohio State) has been reinstated,” said Murphy, who said that six or seven athletes at the university had failed a third test over that period.

Murphy said that Ohio State sets up counseling for those who have failed tests, and also arranges frequent visits by speakers such as National Football League drug enforcement officials.

A task force led by former U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti will investigate drug use on the University of Maryland campus in response to the death of basketball star Len Bias, the school’s Board of Regents decided.

The Board of Regents, meeting behind closed doors, also formed a second task force that will focus on the academic hardships faced by Maryland athletes and will reassess the school’s admissions policies for athletes.

The action comes following revelations of widespread academic difficulties suffered by Maryland athletes, including Bias, who failed three courses and dropped two during his final semester at the school.

Civiletti, the nation’s top law enforcement officer during the final 1 1/2 years of the Carter administration, was named to head the university drug panel. The group will make recommendations to the Regents within three to four months.

A Prince George’s County grand jury today opens its own investigation into the June 19 death of Bias, 22, of Landover, Md., who died of “cocaine intoxication” that triggered cardiac arrest just two days after the Boston Celtics made him the second choice overall in the NBA draft.

Police are expected to present preliminary information of Bias’ death to grand jurors in Upper Marlboro. The grand jury also will decide who will be subpoenaed to testify.

Three key figures in the police investigation of Bias’ death--Maryland teammates David Gregg and Terry Long, and former Maryland student and junior varsity basketball player Brian Tribble--have refused to answer police questions and could be called before the grand jury.

Witnesses will testify before the county grand jury on July 21 and automatically receive immunity from prosecution.

Chuck Knox, coach of the Seattle Seahawks, called for the establishment of a drug program in the nation’s schools starting in the first grade.

“We need to begin educating our children that young and continue to educate them all the way through school to show them just how harmful drugs are to human beings,” he said.

“If we believe that the goal of education is to prepare people for life, then we need to start preparing our young people in every school in America about the consequences of drugs.”

Knox said he did not think stricter drug testing in professional and college sports was the answer to the nation’s drug problem. He said athletes found ways “to get around” drug testing.

“So many times we treat the symptoms rather than the cause,” he added.