While the NCAA tightened its control over drug use at its annual convention last week, the effects on Penn State's athletic program will be minimal.

The new measures, effective Aug. 1, call for year-round testing of Division I football players with strict penalties for offenders. Testing will occur under the jurisdiction of the NCAA, not the member schools.

"Our own drug testing program will be expanded," said Frank Uryasz, NCAA director of sports science. "But the programs of the institutions are operated independently of the NCAA."

Penn State has been drug testing football players since 1982 and basketball players since 1984. A program for all sports began in 1987. Athletes are tested at their physical and other occasions selected randomly by the team physician, said Jim Hochberg, director of sports medicine.

"The team physician has the ultimate decision to make, but the coach can request a random test," Hochberg said.

Penn State does not share any information regarding drug tests or use with the NCAA. The drug policy is not designed to be punitive; offenders are counseled or recommended to professional treatment centers.

Under the new NCAA regulations, 36 players from each football team will be tested after a two-day notice. The notice is designed to coordinate testing; two days is not enough time to rid the body of drugs.

Any athlete caught using drugs for the first time will be suspended for one year. Users of "street drugs" like cocaine and marijuana will be suspended for a second year on a repeat offense. Steroid users caught a second time will be banned for life.

"I think it (suspension) actually is kind of harsh, but it does bring the cream to the top," football player Leonard Humphries said.

Although the year-round testing applies only to football, an athlete from any sport who fails an NCAA drug test will face the suspensions.

"I don't know anybody on our team that uses steroids or drugs so it won't affect us," Humphries said.

Penn State could be affected indirectly, though. Opponents' key players could be suspended, or lose the competitive edge due to not using steroids. New recruits will also come under greater scrutiny.

"I think they (recruits) realize when they come to Penn State University it is not a university that will bend or break the rules," football player Dave Daniels said. "They say, 'Well, Penn State is a clean school and a school to be noticed and honored.' "

At Penn State, an athlete must participate in an education or rehabilitation program or receive counseling after both the first and second offenses. Any action is based on the advice of the team physician and coach.

After a third failure, the athlete participates in a professional treatment or counseling program. For a fourth offense, the athlete is discharged from Penn State athletics and loses any grant-in-aid.

No changes have yet been made in any Penn State drug program, but it is not clear if anything needs to be altered.

"Questions (will) arise about provisions of the new legislation that aren't answered . . . but would be answered in interpretation. We'll have to have the benefit of that interpretation," said L. Budd Thalman, associate athletic director for communications.

Penn State will pay for the treatment programs to the limit the NCAA allows.

The NCAA's present policy consists of testing players only at bowl games or championship events. A positive test results in a minimum of 90 days ineligibility during the postseason. Tests are conducted on 36 players, including the 22 starters and 14 random players from the roster. The NCAA expects to continue this procedure, Uryasz said.

Schools have ways to avoid any prospective problems, especially for over the counter drugs like Actifed and Dristan. Penn State tests all players two or three weeks before the event, Hochberg said.

Although the NCAA recommends that member institutions provide drug awareness programs for athletes, it does not require the programs. Penn State started a program with On Drugs, Inc., a drug educational center in State College, last year.

"You don't just add drug testing," Hochberg said. "You have to dovetail the educational side of that into that, which we have done."

All athletes were required to attend the first year's session. This year only freshmen and newcomers to the athletic program must attend. Issues dealing with steroids, cocaine, marijuana and dealing with other people on drugs are addressed.

"We tend to emphasize alcohol," Sally Hoover of On Drugs, Inc., said. "What we have found is that most of them, just like most students in general, are now coming to college with fairly decent basic information about street drugs."

The NCAA has no alcohol policy.

The program on alcohol was suggested by the Student-Athlete Advisory Board because it better addresses of the average athlete, SAAB president Todd Shirley said. Another proposal has recovering college-age addicts speak to the athletes.

"What would be a little more interesting, touch home with some more of the people, is actually have those people who have had problems come in and explain what their problems have been," Shirley said.