Wrong role for schools.

Byline: The Register-Guard

If people could always be counted on to use common sense, Senate Bill 6 would not be needed. School employees should not encourage students to gain a competitive edge in sports by using performance-enhancing supplements. But if some people won't come to that understanding on their own, the state should lead them to it - and SB 6, approved by the Senate on Tuesday, should become law.

The bill was born in the Oregon School Activities Association's sports medicine committee, which was looking for effective ways to respond to the widespread use of performance-enhancers. The committee's concern was aroused by the case of Chris Miller, the football coach at South Eugene High School, who sold the muscle-builder creatine to some of his players. The Eugene School Board voted in 2003 to ban school employees from selling or promoting supplements after The Register-Guard reported on Miller's actions.

SB 6 would make it illegal for any school employee or volunteer to sell performance-enhancers to students, or even to recommend their use. The bill would bring schools throughout Oregon into line with the Eugene School District by requiring all personnel, paid and unpaid, to keep performance enhancers at arm's length.

Creatine and other widely used supplements are legal - anyone can buy them, and they're no more than a few steps removed from multivitamins. But they can have health effects for which no school district should wish to be responsible.

They are also part of a continuum of substances that extends to steroids and other banned or illegal drugs. Young athletes who, with their coaches' encouragement, gain speed, strength or endurance with creatine or other dietary supplements are on their way toward trying other performance-enhancers.

Beyond that, performance-enhan- cers corrupt what's left of the purity of athletic competition by communicating the message that victory comes in a container, rather than being achieved through talent and hard work. Banning the substances would create enforcement difficulties. But clearly, public schools should have no role in promoting performance-enhancers' use.

If it takes legislative action to drive home such an obvious point, SB 6 will do the job.