AUSTIN, Texas, April 20 (UPI) -- A Texas legislator plans to introduce a bill that would require random testing of Texas high school athletes for steroids.
State Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford, called Tuesday for an aggressive approach to the steroid problem among high school athletes.
"Steroid abuse has been called the 'silent epidemic,'" he said. "It's time for us to send a firm, clear message that steroid use is unacceptable in our schools and will not be tolerated."
Under his bill, if a student tested positive the high school would notify the parents and suspend the athlete from sports for the rest of the season. After a second offense, the athlete would be permanently banned from competition.
Last spring, nine students at a suburban Fort Worth high school admitted using steroids, which was one of the largest cases of confirmed use of the drug in a U.S. high school.
Out of 1,674 Texas public high schools, only 93 were testing for performance-enhancing drugs in 2002, the latest figures available.
