A Senate Committee recently endorsed a law that would require student athletes participating in championship tournaments to be subject to random drug testing. If passed, New Jersey will be one of three states in the country that authorize such testing.
Athletes that test positive will be banned from organized competition for one year.  When they return they will be required to continue to participate in drug testing and undergo special counseling.  Sponsors of the Bill contend that it is not conceived to “catch” people, but to deter drug use in school athletic contests.

Texas, which is one of the other three states with a similar testing process, spends approximately three million dollars a year for this program. Last year, Texas tested 45,000 athletes and returned only two positive tests. The other state, Illinois, tested only 695 students.  No tests were returned positive.  Florida dropped its program as a cost cutting measure last year.