After a recent revision to the NCAA's drug-testing program, athletes that tested positive for using banned substances will no longer find NCAA competition a venue to escape their suspensions.
In the past, athletes serving suspensions under the World Anti-Doping Agency have been cleared to compete in NCAA sports, but the change, which became effective Aug. 1, closed that loophole.
The change will have little impact at MSU, which has had policies in place for 15 years to suspend athletes who fail drug tests from competition, said Jeff Monroe, assistant athletic director and head athletic trainer.
As of mid-August, no MSU athletes have tested positive for banned substances, he said.
The new rule will only affect a handful of athletes across the nation, said Frank Uryasz, president of Drug Free Sport, the NCAA's regulatory body.
"These were very rare occurrences, but they tended to be high profile," he said.
Sports that participate in more international competition, such as track and field and swimming, are most likely to be impacted by the change, he said.
The NCAA's motivation for updating the rule was to bring its policy in line with WADA codes, he said.
"This was really an effort that started two or three years ago," he said. "It takes quite a while to get rules changed in the NCAA structure."
An appeals committee will evaluate cases on an individual basis, said Matt Mitten, a Marquette University law professor and chair of Drug Free Sport's Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.
"(The punishment) can be adjusted up or down depending on the athlete's degree of fault," he said.
Athletes have to take responsibility for what goes into their bodies, he said, and the goal of NCAA policies is to ban substances that both enhance performance and pose an unreasonable health risk.
"The NCAA's is a much more deterrent-based policy. (MSU's) is a much more educational and understanding policy," Monroe said. "We recognize that there's going to be issues, and we want kids to come forward before we catch them."
Monroe said the punishment for a positive test depends on who catches the athlete, and individual member schools aren't required to report the results of drug tests to the NCAA.
The more significant change to the NCAA's drug testing policy came in 2004, he said, when the NCAA broadened the number of sports they police. In the past, they had only performed steroid tests on athletes in football and track and field, but now they test athletes from any two sports they choose.
"I don't perceive a big problem with banned substances in NCAA competition," he said, and added he believes the main purpose of the policy changes is to keep athletes honest. "If the word gets out ? and the athletes hear, I would like to think it would be strong deterrent."
