Cape Town - Life bans from sport could be a reality for pupils caught doping, as the government attempts to stem the tide of steroid and drug use sweeping through schools.
Schoolchildren found to be using drugs - steroids and methamphetamine in particular - would face the same consequences as professional athletes who use banned substances if proposed amendments are passed into law after they are tabled next year.
This was heard in Parliament on Tuesday when the Departments of Sport and Recreation and Basic Education briefed the committees on these portfolios on the progress made in drafting amendments to the South African Schools Act and the Drug-Free Schools Act to allow random drug testing at schools.
The alarming incidence of the use of performance-enhancing drugs among pupils led the departments to work with the SA Institute for Drug-free Sport.
In January last year, the institute announced that a programme to curb doping, in which it would carry out unscheduled drug tests at schools, was to be introduced nationally. However, it emerged this was not in compliance with the SA Schools Act, and the plan was dropped.
The act allows principals alone to perform drug tests on pupils, with a number of other stipulations.
The institute’s chief executive officer, Khalid Galant, says research into doping at schools by the KwaZulu-Natal and Witwatersrand universities had made alarming findings.
“The research showed that more than half of the pupils found to be using steroids were doing it for looks and not to improve their sporting performances,” he said.
“Another trend with school athletes is that they are digesting crystal meth (tik) by mixing it with water.
“Banned substances used in sport has become common at schools, but due to the SA Schools Act (the institute) cannot just go into schools and do random testing like we have the leeway to do with professional athletes.
“With the departments we have drafted some amendments to the act so we can go into schools and initiate unscheduled drug tests.”
The institute would use a laboratory in Bloemfontein that was just one of 32 in the world equipped to test suspected dopers properly.
“It has a good screening system and will not turn up a false positive. In an issue as sensitive as doping among pupils, this is important.”
Granville Whittle, spokesman for the Department of Basic Education, said pupils caught doping could face “dire consequences”, but the government’s approach was also to help them.
“The consequences would pretty much be the same as with professional sports where athletes are banned for a period of time or sometimes for life, depending on the circumstances.
Cape Times