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None of the 25 percent of athletes tested for drugs this year at the University of Maine tested positive, according to Brent Williamson, assistant athletic director for media relations.
The results are from an updated drug prevention program within UMaine’s Athletics Department that requires testing of athletes from all university sports.
Athletes were randomly tested for drugs, such as steroids and other recreational drugs deemed unacceptable by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), according to Patrick Nero, director of athletics.
“The testing is part of our prevention to discourage use,” Nero said.
The NCAA performs its own drug testing any time a team or individual qualifies for an NCAA championship. They also drug-test football and track and field student-athletes twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring, according to Associate Athletic Director Scott Hobbs.
“With our new athletic administration this year we thought it equitable to have all of our other student-athletes on the same level as our football and track and field student-athletes,” Hobbs said. “We are currently conducting two random tests per year. We will test roughly 40 student-athletes at each test.”
The program, paid for by the Athletics Department, is standard procedure, as most NCAA institutions have been testing for drugs during regular and post-season play, but it is new to regular season play at UMaine.
Head trainer Paul Culina administers the urine sample drug tests.
“For those that test positive, we have specific punishments that were distributed to our student-athletes when they returned to campus this fall,” Nero said.
The drug testing policy is referred to as a “three strikes and you’re out” policy, according to Hobbs.
“After the first positive drug test, the student-athlete will be suspended from 10 percent of the next scheduled intercollegiate contests and must attend an assessment interview with the Cutler Health Center,” Hobbs said.
UMaine’s policy is different from the NCAA’s in that if a student-athlete tests positive in an NCAA drug test, he or she is suspended for 365 days, Hobbs said.
“After a second positive test, the student-athlete will be suspended from 20 percent of the next scheduled intercollegiate contests and must attend a mandatory drug-counseling session,” Hobbs said. “After a third positive test, the student-athlete will be dismissed from the athletic team, permanently suspended from future intercollegiate contests at the University of Maine, and any athletic scholarship money will be revoked at the end of that semester.”
“We have not noticed any out of the ordinary problems with our student-athletes as far as drugs and alcohol are concerned,” Nero said. “In fact, student-athletes tend to have fewer problems because they rely on their body so much that they tend to respect it more.”
That was not the case last year, when Stephen Cooper, a fourth-year linebacker for the UMaine football team, was stopped by police for violating a speed limit. When his car was searched, police found 1,000 pills that Cooper admitted were steroids.
First-year men’s hockey player Nathan Hart said he is happy to hear the athletics department is conducting random drug tests.
“I agree with it because it puts everybody on the same playing field and doesn’t give anybody an advantage out there,” Hart said.
He said he has always stayed “natural” when it comes to athletics and he has never used steroids or “any type of drugs to increase muscle, speed or any type of enhancement.” He said he does not see the fairness in using them.
“If other people are using steroids and they are beating me out [of a spot on the team] because they’re doing that, and I’m doing it straight and natural, it kind of brings you down a little bit,” Hart said.
Nero said he believes the program will be a success.
“Like many programs of its kind, it is important as it is another way to help prevent drug use,” Nero said.
