Ala. District To Test Athletes For Use of Tobacco, Alcohol

By Jessica Portner

Public schools in Hoover, Ala., will begin testing student athletes for tobacco and alcohol use this week, under a controversial new policy that stretches student drug testing beyond the traditional focus of hard drugs.

Secondary students in the suburban district outside Birmingham will be thrown off the football team or the cheerleading squad not only for using such drugs as cocaine, marijuana, barbiturates, or heroin. Under the plan adopted unanimously by the school board in June, taking one puff on a cigarette or drinking a beer at a party could get them banished from sports.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 gave all districts the green light to test athletes for drug use, more than 100 districts in 20 states have required students to take urine tests to play sports or...