The Portland Police Bureau plans to move ahead with random drug-testing of officers this year, and has decided to include exams for steroids, despite stiff opposition from the police union.

On Jan. 12, the city will begin training officers on the effects of drugs and alcohol in the workplace, and review the new policy.

Once the training is completed, up to 55 officers a month, or 660 a year, will be tested in a fiscal year.

When city officials approved the contract last February, they said they planned to delay steroid testing, calling it too costly.

But the city has found a California lab, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory, that will do the tests at a reasonable cost of about $100 per exam, said Yvonne Deckard, director of the city's Bureau of Human Resources.

Portland police will join other major law enforcement agencies, such as Phoenix, Dallas, Albuquerque, N.M., Boston and New York police, who include steroids in their random drug tests.

Use of anabolic steroids, which are essentially synthetic forms of testosterone, sometimes results in a significant elevation of male hormones and can lead to violent outbursts and uncontrolled anger, studies have found. Steroids have legitimate medical uses but are frequently abused for illegitimate recreational uses, such as bodybuilding, weightlifting or “bulking up.”

Deckard said she was unable to reach any agreement with the union on the steroid tests despite multiple meetings last year, but cannot delay the testing further. She said she last met with union leaders in November, but couldn't find a date in December acceptable to the union to meet.

"Frankly, we have bargained this to completion," Deckard said. "This is a very important issue for the City Council and the citizens of Portland."

Deckard sent the union a letter Dec. 29, notifying it of the city's plan to move forward. "While the PPA indicated its intent was to work collaboratively with the City, the PPA's behavior has demonstrated otherwise,"

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Turner filed a grievance last September, demanding the city "cease and desist" from moving forward with any drug-testing policy to which it had not agreed.

Turner, in a statement issued today in response to the Oregonian's questions, said Deckard had misrepresented the union's efforts to come to an agreement. He said he did meet with Deckard Dec. 1, but the union still had concerns about the steroid testing, including the fact that any detectable level of steroids would be considered a positive drug test under the city's current policy. A less stringent standard was discussed when the contract was ratified, he said.

The union has argued that members who take over-the-counter supplements could test positive for steroids. The union wanted the city to conduct a special test for supplements if an officer tested positive for steroids.

"To expect officers to read the list of ingredients on the back of a supplement bottle, many of which are in chemical terms, and then determine whether those chemicals might contain illegal substances is to ask the impossible,''

An extra test would cost about $300, Deckard said.

"I said that's not reasonable," Deckard said. "Other jurisdictions have steroid testing, peroid. If you test positive, you test positive, period. My position is, your employer now tests for steroids, and you agree to it. What your job is, is to make sure you don't test positive for steroids."

Dr. Linn Goldberg, OHSU's head of health promotion and sports medicine, said the union is mistaken. "They don't know what they're talking about," Goldberg said.

If an officer taking a sports supplement, for example, tests positive for steroids, that means the supplement company may illegally be placing steroids into the supplement. Supplements aren't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

He cited a 2003 study by the International Olympic Committee Medical Commission, which found that about 18 percent of dietary supplements sold in the U.S. for the purpose of building muscle and improving athletic performance have been contaminated with steroid-like chemicals. The commission, as a result, recommended athletes not take these supplements.

"But to say that amino acids or different types of supplements will test positive when they're not steroids, is patently false," Goldberg said.

Until now, the bureau has only tested officers for drugs if supervisors have "reasonable suspicion" that an officer was using.

Under the new random drug-testing policy, the bureau will test for five classes of drugs: marijuana, cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine or PCP and amphetamines.

says the city's intent is to balance accountability with treatment, based upon the "joint desire" to achieve a work force that is 100 percent drug free.

"Drug and alcohol testing, which will be part of the program, is intended in part as a means of identifying those who need help," the policy states.

The steroid testing will be done at a certified lab. Officers are to provide a urine sample in the privacy of a stall while a collection site person remains in the room.

While the written policy says the city will "randomly test a subset'' of the 660 officers randomly tested each year for anabolic steroids and prohormones, Deckard said all the random drug tests will include testing for the steroids.

"The City has informed the PPA that every individual randomly selected for drug testing will automatically be tested for steroids,'' Deckard said.

If an officer tests positive for less than .08 percent blood-alcohol content; marijuana; or "illegally used drugs" and it's a first offense, the city will give the officer the option to seek treatement, face up to a 40-hour suspension without pay or be assigned a desk job and have restricted police powers. Refusing to submit to a drug test, or switching or adulterating any urine sample, shall result in termination.

If an officer tests positive for drugs but has knowledge of "possible alternate medical explanations" a review will be done by a medical review officer before results are sent to the Police Bureau.

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