It was only a matter of time before a drug policy was to be put in place for Ashland University athletes.

Many colleges around the country, including schools in the GLIAC, have had a drug policy in place. Ashland, however, has never had one.

“We felt that it was something we needed to do,” said Al King, Director of Athletics. “We wanted to make it a part of our comprehensive health plan for student athletes.”

The drug policy wasn’t something that was handwritten overnight. King, Assistant Athletic Director Adam Bracken, and members of the committee looked around at other schools, particularly in the GLIAC, and analyzed their policies to create one that fitted Ashland.

“We looked at three or four GLIAC schools’ policies and took pieces and parts of it while making it fit to Ashland and what we’re trying to do for our student athletes,” said Bracken.

The committee includes King, Bracken, athletic trainers Jeremy Hancock and Kris Veverka, head wrestling Coach Josh Hutchens, faculty athletic representative Mark Hamilton, senior women’s administrator and assistant athletic director Sheilah Gulas, AU counselor Oscar McKnight, the team physician Chris Boyd, and members from the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, Zach Bernhard and Hannah Mattar. 

“[Our role] is just having an athlete’s perspective in the room and give our outlook on any cases or changes that come up,” said Bernhard.

“We’re going to get a lot of feedback,” said King. “If SAAC thinks that something isn’t fair or something can be done better, they have a voice to bring that to us.”

Some elements of the drug policy include how to test athletes, how the randomization is done, the penalties for a positive test, and how an athlete can get back on the field.

The policy allows random drug testing one to three times a semester. If a coach believes that one of their athletes tested positive for drugs in the past or has a current drug issue, then he or she can ask to have them tested too.

 “I’m sure it’s going to be unsettling the first time there are tests and we go into practice to pull out two or three people to take them over for drug testing,” said King. “But if you’re not taking any illegal substances, you have nothing to worry about

Penalties for a first positive test include a suspension for 10 percent of the athlete’s season, along with 20 hours of community service. They must be able to pass a drug test in order to get back on the playing field.

A second positive test would double the penalties to a 20 percent of the season suspension, along with 40 hours of community service.

The third time would result in termination from the program.

“Our idea wasn’t to dwell [on the penalties],” said King. “It was to do something to try and help overall health of student athletes.”

King and Bracken recently concluded their meetings with all of the athletic teams and coaches to discuss the new policy. They gave a four to five minute presentation about the drug policy, how the program works, how many times athletes can be tested and what is being looked for.

“A lot of the student athletes came with questions that they had prepared or rumors that they had heard and things we were able to address,” said Bracken.

Overall, the feedback regarding the new drug policy was fairly positive.

“I think a lot of the student athletes realized that if a teammate needs help, in this way we can,” said Bracken. “The coaches were very positive as well. They understand the importance of the health of the student athlete.”

“It’s meant to be a good thing,” said Bernhard. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing as a student athlete to be held to a higher standard.”

“I’m sure that there are some student athletes that don’t see the reason behind it or why we would implement something like this,” Bracken continued. “But it’s not been verbalized to us.”

The goal of the drug policy isn’t to punish athletes, but rather educate them on the use and abuse of drugs and illegal substances, why they shouldn’t be used, what could happen if they are abused and provide support for those in need.

“We need to do a better job, as an athletic department, of education,” said King. “We didn’t do this because we looked at some sports and said ‘this is a problem.’ We’re trying to be as complete as we can be in the athletic department. We’re looking at ways we can get better.”

In the future, the drug policy will be discussed in the beginning of the year when athletes fill out their personal paperwork, review the procedures, etcetera. But because the plan wasn’t ready to be implemented at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, the policy was presented midway through the semester.

“We want to be a first class organization,” said King. “We have been on the field, in the classroom, and this is just the next step. We want people who are committed to doing the right things.”

 “I believe that the heath of the student athlete is number one,” said Bracken. “A large part of that is the drug aspect. Now we have a tool to get students help if they need it.”