The NCAA News - News and Features

May 26, 1997

Drug-testing results for 1996 almost unchanged from 1995

The percentage of NCAA student-athletes ruled ineligible as the result of a positive drug test in 1996 was virtually unchanged from 1995.

In the January-June 1996 period, 56 of 6,590 student-athletes tested were ruled ineligible -- 0.9 percent, which is identical to the same period in 1995. From August to December 1996, the rate of positive ineligibles also was 0.9 percent (42 of 4,875), compared to 1.0 percent for the same period in 1995.

In both 1996 periods, most positive tests involved anabolic steroids (or masking agents). From January to June, 30 of the 56 positive ineligibles involved steroids or masking agents, while another eight were for marijuana. The other 18 were for failure to show or for arriving late for the test.

For the August-December period, 23 of the 42 positives were for steroids or masking agents. Eleven were for marijuana, and eight were for failure to show or failure to provide an adequate specimen.

The year-round testing program for Division I football showed a positive-ineligible rate of .7 percent in the January-June period and .5 percent in the August-December period. The positive rate for Division II football was higher -- 1.6 percent in the spring period and 1.4 percent in the fall.

Because the year-round program does not test for marijuana, the rate of positive tests for postseason football was much higher than for the year-round program. Six of the 185 players tested at Division I-A bowl games (3.2 percent) tested positive. All 48 players tested at the Division I-AA Football Championship were negative, but 3.1 percent (three of 96) at the Division II championship and 2.3 percent (five of 216) at the Division III championship were positive.

In the football postseason, marijuana accounted for 11 of the 14 positive ineligibles.

The positive rate in the other year-round testing program, track and field, was low in both periods: 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent. Of the 420 athletes tested at the six NCAA indoor and outdoor championships, the only three positives were for marijuana (0.7 percent).

In addition to the positive ineligibles, another 19 tested positive in the January-June period and another 20 in the August-December period. However, those athletes retained their eligibility as a result of medical documentation, when an appeal was granted or pending the results of follow-up testing.

Frank D. Uryasz, NCAA director of sports sciences, noted that the Association does not attempt to analyze the test results. He said that it should not be inferred that the percentage of positive tests necessarily represents the percentage of student-athletes who are using drugs.

Any student-athlete failing the test is ineligible for at least one year after testing positive.