http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...oids.50f0.html
Plano ISD in steroids spotlight
As national media focus on steroid abuse in district, school officials play down problem
By KIM BREEN / The Dallas Morning News
Taylor Hooton hanged himself with two belts slung over his bedroom door a year and a half ago, but his story remains fresh on newsstands nationwide.
Taylor's steroid abuse and the depression that came with withdrawal has been covered in The New York Times and on 60 Minutes. Now, on the latest cover of Newsweek, a student poses in a Plano West Senior High lacrosse T-shirt next to the headline "How Sports Doping Hits Home."
Several years after a rash of heroin overdoses put Plano in the national spotlight, the Plano school district is a symbol for another adolescent killer: steroid abuse.
"We're talking to anybody that will listen," said Taylor's father, Don. He has lectured in school auditoriums, spoken before a Senate caucus and talked with the Drug Enforcement Administration. He grants interviews to American and foreign journalists. He has started a foundation to further spread the word about the dangers of steroids.
Taylor, a baseball pitcher at Plano West Senior High School, was headed into his senior year when he killed himself in July 2003 at age 17. His family blames the depressive effects of steroid withdrawal.
While reporters around the United States – and abroad – have been telling Taylor's story, the Plano school district has recently been quiet.
School district administrators declined to comment Monday, but Superintendent Doug Otto issued a prepared statement.
"We want to emphasize that there is not extensive usage of this substance by young people who attend Plano ISD schools," the statement said, citing statistics from a 2002 drug and alcohol survey. The study found that 2 percent of students in grades seven through 12 had used steroids, matching the state average, the statement said.
The district plans to do another survey in the spring, according to the statement.
Spokeswoman Nancy Long added that steroid information was "emphasized to an even greater extent" to coaches over the summer.
Mr. Hooton said Monday that he's angry about the Plano school district's reaction to Taylor's death. He said no substantive changes have been made to educate employees or students about steroids.
"I guess we have been overwhelmed with our ability to get out the message nationwide," Mr. Hooton said. "Locally, it's just been very disappointing."
Any negative perception about the Plano school district created by Taylor's death is the district's fault, he said.
"They've made this thing a black eye by ignoring it," Mr. Hooton said. "We could have become the poster child of the positive way to deal with this. Instead, by denying there's a problem, Plano has continued to put themselves on the map in the negative side."
Heroin deaths in Plano drew national attention in the 1990s because of media coverage and many community meetings, said Sabina Stern, program coordinator for the Collin County Substance Abuse Program. Steroids are getting similar attention because of Mr. Hooton's openness, Ms. Stern said. That doesn't mean Plano has a more serious problem than other communities.
"I think it's unfair to say Plano's this hotbed of steroids because I don't think it is," she said. The program sees hundreds of adolescents a year who are suspected of alcohol or drug abuse.
Steroid use comes up only a handful of times each year, she said. Still, she said, students might not be getting caught.
"One reason kids use these drugs is no one tests for them," she said. The attention does have its benefit, she said.
"In the alcohol and drug business, attention is education," she said. The more people hear about steroid or other problems, the more they start looking at their own families, she said.
Dr. Larry Gibbons, medical director of the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, presented a lecture on steroids with Mr. Hooton at Plano senior high schools. He also said the district did not seem interested in steroid testing or "getting the word out. ... I'm just a little disappointed with Plano."
He said it's impossible to know the extent of steroid use locally without testing or an anonymous study.
"We don't know what the extent of use is in Plano, and I don't think we ever will unless the heat gets turned up a little bit," Dr. Gibbons said. "I think we need a lot more news, a lot more attention called to this story."
