For those who question whether the NCAA is going "soft" on drug-testing offenses because of Proposal No. 04-34, which will be considered for the first time at the January Convention, the answer is no.

NCAA regulations provide that a student-athlete who tests positive for a banned substance or who breaches NCAA drug-testing protocol shall become ineligible for one calendar year. The student-athlete also is charged with the loss of a season of competition. Positive findings may be appealed to the drug-education and drug-testing subcommittee of the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports (CSMAS).

Currently, the subcommittee that hears such appeals has only two options when rendering its decision: deny the student-athlete's appeal and impose the one-year penalty or accept the appeal and impose no sanction at all. The subcommittee has no authority to impose any other penalty. There is no middle ground.

However, Proposal No. 04-34, which will be considered for the first time at the Division I Management Council meeting January 9, provides that much-needed middle ground.

Sponsored by the CSMAS, Proposal No. 04-34 will give the subcommittee the authority to impose a sanction of the next 50 percent of a season of competition in all sports. On a case-by-case basis, Proposal No. 04-34 will allow the subcommittee to consider unique or mitigating factors that, if accepted as true, show that the student-athlete had no significant fault.

The word "significant" is important. If the subcommittee finds the student-athlete bears no fault at all, the appeal will be granted and no sanction imposed. At the other end of the sanction spectrum is the imposition of the one-year penalty if the subcommittee finds significant fault by the student-athlete. Proposal No. 04-34, if passed, will allow the subcommittee to impose the 50 percent sanction -- the middle ground -- for a finding of no significant fault.

It is important for institutions to note, however, that this proposal in no way relieves the institution of its duty to educate all student-athletes about banned substances -- particularly dietary supplements and the risks associated with them. In addition, student-athletes will continue to be responsible for consulting with their institution's athletic training staff before ingesting any product.

If passed, Proposal No. 04-34 will be effective August 1, 2005, and will apply only to drug tests conducted on or after the effective date.

Proposal No. 04-34 is one of two drug-testing measures that are worthy of further explanation before they progress through the Division I legislative cycle. The other is Proposal No. 04-36, which seeks to honor a doping suspension imposed by other national or international sport governing bodies that follow the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code by barring the athlete from participating in NCAA intercollegiate athletics competitions for the period of the suspension. For example, an athlete under a two-year suspension for an international doping offense would be precluded from participating in NCAA intercollegiate athletics for two years.

NCAA drug-testing policy currently allows a student-athlete who is under a national or international doping suspension to participate in intercollegiate sports at an NCAA member institution and participate in NCAA championships as long as the athlete self-reports the doping violation and tests negative on a subsequent NCAA-administered drug test. This policy has given the impression that the NCAA provides a safe haven for "dirty athletes."

Under the WADA Code, all sports governing bodies participating in Olympic competition have agreed to harmonize testing policies and procedures, including the imposition of sanctions, with the united purpose of deterring drug use in sport. The NCAA should join in this effort.

Proposal No. 04-36 only applies to suspensions for use of substances banned by the NCAA. Furthermore, it provides an exception for those banned substances for which the NCAA allows a medical exception. Under this proposal, the student-athlete may request the medical panel of the CSMAS to review the doping violation and request a waiver to participate in NCAA intercollegiate athletics because the student-athlete has a documented medical history demonstrating the need for regular use of the banned substance.

If approved, Proposal No. 04-36 will be effective August 1, 2005, and will apply to athletes from that date forward.

Andrea Wickerham is the legal relations and policy director for The National Center for Drug Free Sport, the group that conducts the NCAA's drug-testing program.