Editorial 3--Campus/Local Issue

NCAA Drug Testing: Pulling My Hair Out!


Short-haired, shaved, skin-headed athletes may soon be a common trend among student-athletes at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, and other NCAA college campuses. Why this, one may ask? In response to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) switching to test athletes for drugs through the use of hair follicle testing instead of the current method, urine tests; student-athletes may react.

Though hair follicle drug tests may have the capability to track the drugs from a longer period of time, hair testing can only detect ‘street’ drugs, such as marijuana. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s chief executive officer and founder of The National Center for Drug Free Sport, Frank Urasz, there is no proven research that hair testing can identify performance-enhancing drugs.

Why would the NCAA, or any NCAA accredited university such as UNK, want to adapt hair testing for drugs when it doesn’t even detect performance-enhancement drugs, which are most commonly used by athletes?

Drug testing was developed to ensure fair play amongst athletes in competitive sporting events. Urasz notes, “urine, the body fluid the NCAA uses to test for performance-enhancing drugs, street drugs and masking agents -- remains the best test for a number of reasons.” Urine tests are far less expensive than hair tests and detect drug use primarily within the past week.

Hair testing remains far more expensive, often times cannot detect drug use within the past week, needs specific, certified personal to obtain a sample, and require approximately 50 to 70 strands of hair about 1.5 inches long to complete the test. Drugs can remain in the hair follicle up to 60 days for every one inch of hair exposed, much longer than in one’s urine. Suppose an athlete chose to use a performance enhancement drug, such as steroids, just once. Though they tried it and decided not to ever use it again, evidence of this drug could still be detected in a hair follicle drug test some two months after the athlete engaged in this activity.

Why should an athlete be punished or suspended for something they tried just once, or did, but discontinued using? A urinalysis, or urine test, is the best way to identify drug use in athletes. It detects the most recently used illegal substances and does not linger on the fact that use may have been many months ago. With the desire and determination an athlete has to be the top performer, chances are the illegal substances one will partake in are in fact, performance-enhancement drugs. Therefore, it would not be beneficial for the NCAA to switch to hair follicle drug tests because hair testing cannot detect these types of substances.

So, cancel your emergency hair appointment at your preferred salon and don’t dull those razor blades by shaving off every inch of hair on your body. If the NCAA wants to keep its athletes from using illegal, performance-enhancement substances, they will stick with their current method of drug testing.



I found a video discussing athletes and steroids and why athletes choose to partake in these performance-enhancement substances. The guy has some very interesting points and arguments! Check it out!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DukyZiY_K5w