Step away from the steroids

Random drug testing of Portland Police officers is scheduled to begin this year, but the Portland Police Association (the union) is up in arms about it. Why? Because the random drug testing will include testing for steroids.

Plenty of other police forces around the country include steroids in their random drug testing, but the local union is against it and has even filed a grievance against the City of Portland to try to stop the drug testing.

Yvonne Deckard, director of Portland’s Bureau of Human Resources, says the union delayed negotiations, and finally, at the end of December, Deckard notified the union the city would proceed with random drug testing in 2012.

Daryl Turner, president of the local union, says concerns over testing of steroids stems from the fact that officers could test positive for steroids by, say, ingesting over-the-counter supplements that include chemicals or other substances that illegally contain steroids. Such a situation, says Dr. Linn Goldberg of OHSU, is not plausible.

So, we shall see what happens. Under the new testing policy, 55 officers per month will be tested. I wonder how many of them will test positive for steroids?

For more information, see this article.