UM-St. Louis Drug Testing Policy and Procedure

I. Purpose and Intent

University of Missouri-St. Louis is committed to student-athletes and provides an equitable and safe environment as well as the opportunity to excel, both as a student and an athlete. The use of performance enhancing drugs and controlled substances to gain a perceived competitive edge will not be tolerated. Such substances impair performance and cause increased health risks to student-athletes. Therefore, the purpose of the University Drug Testing Program is three fold:

1. to deter and prevent student-athletes from using and abusing performance enhancing drugs and controlled substances;
2. to educate student-athletes on the physical, psychological dangers and possibly life threatening risks involved with use and abuse of drugs;
3. to provide student-athletes with a support system to cope with internal/external distractions of University life.

The University intends to enable the men and women who participate in intercollegiate athletics to be better students and athletes, and to help them make intelligent and informed decisions regarding the use of drugs, both during competition and thereafter.

The first time any student-athlete test positive for a banned substance, the student-athlete is removed from practice and competition. Then he/she must immediately make a decision. The choice the athlete has is to enter immediately a drug rehabilitation program or be suspended immediately from all athletic competition and participation. If the student-athlete chooses drug rehabilitation, then the Athletic Trainer, Coach, and Athletic director will confer regarding the status of the student-athlete.

II. Policy

In order to maintain a drug free environment, to promote fair competition, and to ensure the health of all student-athletes, a drug testing policy is established by the University.

The Director of Athletics, the athletic trainer, and the faculty athletics representative will manage the drug testing by:
· Presenting drug and alcohol programs to all student-athletes
· Drug testing student-athletes, selected randomly
· Arranging for counseling services for individual student-athlete who test positive for banned substances.

Consent to Be Tested
1. All athletes must sign a Drug Testing Consent Form prior to beginning practice.
2. The consent form shall be administered individually to each student-athlete by the Director of Athletics or a designee at the beginning of each sport season.
3. The statement will be kept on file by the Director of Athletics and shall be available for examination upon request by an authorized representative of the NCAA.
4. Student-athletes who are eligible to participate and compete, and/or student-athletes whose eligibility has expired but are still pursuing a degree and receiving Athletic Grant-in-Aid will be randomly drug tested.

Conditions For Testing
1. Athletes can be tested any time of the year after the have signed a consent form.
2. The Director of Athletics, the faculty athletics representative, the athletic trainer, a coach or any person closely related to a student-athlete may request a test when reasonable suspicion exists. Reasonable suspicion is defined as a degree of knowledge that would cause a reasonable person, under similar circumstances, to believe the student-athlete is involved in the use/abuse of a banned substance(s). The request for the drug test will be made to the Director of Athletics. The Director of Athletics will determine whether to conduct the drug testing.
3. If a student-athlete voluntarily admits to the use/abuse of a banned substance, then the University will administer a drug test to the student-athletes.
4. Any student-athlete who voluntarily admits to the use or abuse of banned substances, but refuses to follow the terms of his/her counseling or rehabilitation, will be subject to the same sanctions as a student-athlete whose use/abuse of a substance is discovered as a result of testing.
5. Student-athletes will be notified of a drug test upon arriving for a regularly scheduled practice, game, or meeting. Athletes selected will be tested within 24 hours of this general notice. Special arrangements can be made to ensure all selected athletes are tested on the date.
6. If an athlete fails to appear for testing without a bonafide reason, the athlete will not be permitted to practice or compete until the test is completed. Failure to appear for drug testing will cause the athlete to be considered as testing positive for a banned substance.

Testing Procedures
1. The official team rosters are used to assign random numbers to the student-athletes. Since the official roster lists only student-athletes who signed the drug testing form, only athletes who signed the form will be tested.
2. Athletes on each team will have their numbers combined for a random drawing.
3. The athletic trainer randomly draws ½ of the names from the team roster for testing. This is done at least 24 hours prior to testing.
4. Upon arrival on the test date, students should be prepared to provide a urine sample. Students should refrain from urinating prior to the announced testing date and time.
5. When the athletes arrive for the test, they will be given an opportunity to disclose prescribed medications they take prior to test.
6. If a student does not have a signed consent form on file, he/she will be required to sign one prior to drug testing. If he/she refuses to sign this consent form, he/she may not participate in the next two regularly scheduled competitions.
7. Each athlete will choose a sealed and sterile specimen bottle. It is the athlete’s responsibility to examine the bottle for an intact seal.
8. The specimen bottle will be labeled with the athlete’s identification number, the date, the time, and the athlete’s initials.
9. Athletes will be escorted, individually, to the assigned lavatory facilities where the urine specimen is obtained. A standard paper cup is used to collect the specimen. The athlete will break the seal on the labeled specimen bottle and pour the sample into the unsealed specimen bottle. The bottle is resealed immediately by the student-athlete. [The collection of the urine specimen is monitored by a member of the athletic training staff. Normally, male staff will monitor males and female staff will monitor females; however, due to the makeup of the staff it is not always possible. If a male-female monitoring situation is necessary, a bathroom stall door will separate the student from the staff member during the collection procedure. All stalls are inspected prior to collection of the specimen. Athletes may not enter the lavatory facility with any item.
10. After the specimen is sealed in the presence of the student-athlete, specimens are sent to a professional lab for testing.
11. The results are returned to the athletic trainer and the Director of Athletics within seven (7) to fourteen (14) days.

Test Results

In the event an athlete has a positive test result:
1. The athletic trainer will notify the Director of Athletics and Coach when a positive drug test is received from the laboratory.
2. When a positive test result is received, the athlete will meet with Director of Athletics, the athletic trainer and coach to discuss the test results.
3. The athlete receiving a positive test result will immediately be assigned assessment and rehabilitation therapy choices, in addition to being removed from Athletic competition and practice. The student-athlete may choose which service he/she wishes to use. The choices the student-athlete have are: campus counseling services or any public/private counseling service of their choice and cost. The student-athlete will sign a waiver request which allows the service agency to report the student’s attendance immediately to the Director of Athletics. When the counseling agency reports the status of the student-athlete to the Athletic Director, a decision will be rendered to possibly re-instate the athlete into Athletic activities or not. That decision is made by the director and athletic trainer after consulting with the coach. The rehabilitation will be in effect until the professional counselor agrees that sufficient counseling rehabilitation has occurred. An athlete who’s test is positive can be suspended from athletic contests based on the team policy. Athletes with prior positive drug test results will be tested any time during the rehabilitation period and any time during their remaining athletic participation and/or eligibility.
4. The athlete must cooperate with the counseling program selected. If the athlete fails to complete the program he/she is suspended for one (1) full year from the date of the test and he/she loses his/her scholarship for that year. It is the Director of Athletics’ decision to permit the athlete to return (with scholarship or not) to the team following the suspension.

III. Appeal Procedure

A student-athlete who tests positive for a banned substance by the laboratory retained by the University may, with 72 hours following receipt of notice of the laboratory finding, contest the finding. The student-athlete may request the names of other laboratories from the Director of Athletics. In order to contest the finding, the student-athlete must authorize in writing the transmission of his/her urine sample from the first laboratory to any one of the other laboratories identified by the Director of Athletics. He/she must also authorize in writing the transmission of the test results from the second laboratory to the Director of Athletics. If the retest is positive, the student-athlete is responsible for the cost of additional laboratory fees. If the laboratory selected by the student-athlete finds that the student-athlete does not have a banned substance in his/her urine sample, the Director of Athletics will rely upon the second test result which concluded that the student-athlete’s urine did not contain any banned substances.

IV. Amendments

This policy may be amended from time to time by the University. Amendment will be distributed to all student-athletes in advance of implementation. No amendment will be applied retroactively if the application of the amendment adversely affects a student-athlete’s right to prior notice.

To examine the NCAA Policy on Drug Testing refer to the 1995-96 NCAA Drug Education & Drug Testing Programs. This can be obtained from the Athletic Director or Athletic Trainer. A list of all of the banned substances can also be obtained.

Approved: December, 1998
Revised: July,2000

The drug testing consent form that you signed prior to participation states:

A student-athlete who is found to have utilized a substance on the list of banned drugs, as set forth in Bylaw 31.2.3.1 shall be declared ineligible for further participation in regular-season and post-season competition in all sports in accordance with the provisions in Bylaw 18.4.1.5.1. The certifying institution may appeal to the NCAA Eligibility Committee for restoration of the student-athlete’s eligibility if the institution concludes that circumstances warrant restoration. [Bylaw 18.4.1.5]

A student-athlete who test positive (in accordance with the testing methods authorized by the NCAA Executive Committee) shall be charged with loss of a minimum of one season of competition in student-athlete or a minimum of the equivalent of one full season of competition in all sports if the season of competition has not yet begun for that student-athlete or a minimum of the equivalent of one full season of competition in all sports if the student-athlete tests positive during his or her season of competition (IE, the remainder of contests in the current season and contests in the subsequent season up to the period of time in which the student-athlete was declared ineligible during the previous year). The student-athlete shall remain ineligible for all regular-season and postseason competition during the time period ending on calendar year (IE, 365 days) after the student-athlete’s positive drug test, and until the student-athlete retests negative (in accordance with the testing methods authorized by the Executive Committee) and the student-athlete’s eligibility is restored by the Eligibility Committee.

If the student-athlete tests positive a second time for the use of any drug, other than a “street drug” as defined in Bylaw 31.2.3.1, he or she shall lose all remaining regular-season and postseason eligibility in all sports. In addition, the penalty for missing a scheduled drug test is the same as the penalty for testing positive for the use of a banned drug.

If the student-athlete tests positive for the use of a “street drug” after being restored to eligibility, he or she shall be charged with the loss of a minimum of one additional season of competition in all sports and also shall remain ineligible for regular-season and postseason competition at least through the next calendar year. [Bylaw 18.4.1.5.1]

The Executive Committee shall adopt a list of banned drugs, and shall authorize methods for drug testing of student-athletes on a year round basis. This list of banned drugs and the procedure for informing member institutions about authorized methods for drug testing are set forth in Bylaws 31.2.3.1 and 31.2.3.3, respectively. [Bylaw 18.4.1.5.2]

Click here for a list of NCAA banned substances