(Columbia) Aug. 3, 2005 - The University of South Carolina is implementing a new drug policy for its athletes.
Under the old policy, athletes were kicked off the team after two positive drug tests. The revised policy, which took effect Monday, allows four positive tests before a player is cut.
Under the new policy, players receive a warning for the first infraction. After the second infraction, the athlete is suspended for one-fourth of the schedule.
There is a one year suspension for the third infraction, and dismissal for the fourth. Athletes will still be subject to random drug testing.
Eric Hyman, USC Athletics Director comments on the policy, "It's a tough policy from a tolerance standpoint. And the amount of times that we drug test is the most of any school that I've ever been associated by far. So there's three parts of it. It's a tough policy from a testing standpoint; it's a tough policy from a tolerance standpoint. And then what we want to be able to put punitive action on things that take place. We're here to help our young people, but in the same light, there's only so much that we can do. And if they're not receptive to working with us, then obviously we have to separate ourselves from them and they'd have to separate themselves from the University."
Spurrier says the new policy puts the University more in line with other schools in the Southeastern Conference. At Georgia and Alabama, athletes are permanently dismissed after a third failed test. At LSU, again, dismissal after a third infraction, but athletes can be reinstated after a year if they're clean. And in Florida, a fourth positive test gets an athelete permanently kicked off the team.
The executive director of the Lexington Richland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council, Jack Claypoole, reacts to the change, "We believe the most important thing that can do for their athletes is keep them in school, to keep them hopefully in the learning process which is the most important thing the school is looking at. It's to offer them some intervention therapy and have it be meaningful so that they're not just going to class and watching a video. But let's assess them, let's give them a full bio, psycho, social assesment. Let's find out did they get caught making a stupid decision and they don't have problems, or they're habitual users of drugs."
Reported by Rick Henry & Heather Brown
Posted 5:00pm by Chantelle Janelle
