Alarmed by the increase in student drug use, an increasing number of high schools nationwide are testing athletes for drugs.

Hence yesterday's proposal to test American and Soviet Olympic athletes in training is an important step forward.

But he added a caveat: "If you're going to test athletes, you should test band members and people in plays," he said.

The surprise factor can be lost as officials travel long distances to test athletes.

American drug testers would have the same opportunities to test Soviet athletes.

The courts have upheld the right of schools to test athletes for performance-enhancing drugs under certain conditions.

Each of the agreements would allow medical experts in one country to test athletes of the other for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The decision in Homewood was prompted by a request from the football coach to test athletes he suspected were using drugs.

That program will test athletes who volunteer to be tested for a longer list of biological data.

They started by randomly testing athletes at the 1968 Winter Olympics.