Do Athletes & Drugs Have To Go Together? All-Star Panel Will Tell Kids 'No'

For years, the mantra has been “get your kids involved in sports to keep them out of trouble” -- with the main “trouble” parents sought to avoid being drug use.

That trouble-free zone has now become one where risks are present for high school student-athletes, who face peer pressure, competitive pressure and more.

At free forum tonight beginning at 6 p.m. at the Pine Belt Arena, a star-studded lineup of professional sports stars with local ties will tell student-athletes not only how to avoid falling into the trap of drugs and alcohol abuse, but why.

Sponsored by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, the speakers include Todd Frazier, Frankie Edgar, Tony Meola, Keith Elias, Ray Lucas and Erin Cowley, all of whom played athletics at a high level. They will talk about their experiences, and at least one will share the story of falling into the trap of prescription pain killer addiction, one of the rising issues in drug abuse today.

The changing culture of sports, from days where it was a way to keep busy to the intense pursuit today of scholarships, fame and professional dreams, has increased the pressure on student-athletes -- to practice for more hours, to play harder, and play through pain. That has led to a rise in the number of high school students who are using prescription pain killers, according to a study released in April 2014.

“In the United States, alcohol and marijuana use continue to threaten the collective health of American teenagers,” according to a news release on the study, conducted by Bryan E. Denham and published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse.

But in his research, Denham found that athletes were using illicit substances more frequently than non-competitors, with boys using illegal substances more often than girls and white students using more often than black students or Hispanic students.

“Most revealing, 12 percent of males and 8 percent of females reported using analgesics in the past year, an increase from previous surveys,” the news release said.

Prescription pain killer abuse has been tied to the dramatic increase in the use of heroin, which has plagued Ocean County for the last few years and New Jersey as a whole.

Frazier rose from local fame as a Little Leaguer in Toms River to the national stage with the Cincinnati Reds. Elias, who starred as a running back at Lacey High School, went on to play at Princeton University before playing on special teams for the Giants in the NFL. Edgar, a star wrestler at Toms River High School East, has risen to the championship ranks as a mixed martial arts fighter. Lucas, former quarterback at Rutgers University, reached the NFL ranks, playing for the New York Jets. Cowley played basketball at Temple University in the mid-1980s and now is an addictions counselor in Toms River, and Meola, goalkeeper for the U.S. men’s soccer team in the 1990, 1994 and 2002 World Cups as well as for the NY/NJ MetroStars, now lives in Ocean County and coaches youth soccer teams locally.

The forum is free. The information is priceless.