It was a typical Sunday afternoon last September. Frank and Brenda Marrero were running some errands; their 19-year-old son Efrain was doing homework for the next day of classes at Solano Community College in Fairfield, Calif.

Several hours later, however, the Marreros' world changed forever. When the parents arrived home, they found Efrain in their bedroom, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

That was the day before Efrain's first scheduled counseling session for steroid use. Three weeks earlier he had admitted using the illegal muscle builders to bulk up for football.

Efrain Marrero's death is one of three known suicide cases among high school athletes in the nation that have been linked to prolonged steroid use. His demise has sent the Marreros on a crusade to raise the awareness of the dangers of steroids among young people.

"My son was a good kid until he started using this stuff,” Frank Marrero said recently. "Something changed him emotionally. We didn't know anything about steroids when he came to us except that they were bad."

The rest of California is hearing the Marreros' message. The CIF Federated Council adopted three measures that went into effect this fall to help educate athletes, coaches and parents about the physical and emotional destruction that is possible from steroid use.

The measures:

> Each school district must have a clear policy forbidding steroid use.

> Coaches must take classes to better understand the problem and to be aware of warning signs.

> Coaches will be prohibited from selling, promoting or distributing performance-enhancing supplements of any kind to athletes and schools are prohibited from accepting sponsorships from these companies.

Schools must be in full compliance by January 2008. By then, all coaches in all sports —— paid or unpaid, with on-campus or off-campus status, whether a head coach or an assistant —— must be certified in an eight-hour coaches education clinic that includes steroid and drug awareness segments. They must pass a test afterward to get their certificate and are required to meet with their athletes on the subject.

Penalties will be administered by the individual school districts so the punishment may vary from one area to another.

No clear-cut policy

Most North County Conference member schools never had a clear-cut policy concerning steroids, but that is about to change, in part because of the new CIF guidelines.

"We just kind of lumped steroids in with drugs as something to not do," Ramona athletic director Joe Bess said.

The Poway school district is ahead of the game. It already conducts three-hour clinics for its coaches which include a discussion about steroids.

"As helpful as this education program will be, and it would have helped us maybe to know about Efrain's problem earlier, testing is the only way to know for sure,” Frank Marrero said. "He said he'd been doing it since April (2004), but I think he'd been doing it longer.

"Kids know that drugs are bad, but they still keep taking them. The only way to totally get rid of steroids is random, independent testing. Education is a great first step. But a testing program needs to be implemented that will save a kid's life."

No North County school currently tests all of its athletes for steroids, but Oceanside and El Camino this fall implemented a partial program. Rancho Buena Vista conducts voluntary drug tests for its football team only, but no steroid testing is involved in RBV's testing program.

Oceanside and El Camino resumed random in-season drug testing. The program, which existed for four years but was abandoned two years ago because of budget cuts, tests all athletes for marijuana and amphetamines but also calls for every fifth athlete to also be tested for steroids.

The drug tests are picked up by U.S. Health Works and sent off to CRL Labs in Lenexa, Kan. Oceanside officials get the results in about 48 hours. In the four years of testing before the program was halted, no athlete ever tested positive for steroids, according to school officials.

Rancho Buena Vista's program was initiated last year and tests for marijuana and methamphetamines only.

Other than that, there's basically no testing in North County. And the CIF has yet to take a position on testing as part of the steroid policy.

High costs of testing

The prohibitive cost and invasion of privacy concerns are the two most common explanations for the void.

The mandatory and random drug testing at Oceanside and El Camino costs between $12,000 and $15,000 a year, according to Oceanside High athletic director Pat Kimbrel. The school district picks up the tab.

Each drug test —— for eight drugs that include cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines —— costs $18 to $20.

While testing for drugs can be expensive enough, the cost for a single steroid test is between $75 and $100.

An athlete testing positive for any drug or steroid is suspended from the team and must attend an eight-week counseling class, accompanied by a parent or guardian. The athlete is not subject to testing during that eight-week span but can be tested on demand after he completes the class. He returns to the team as long as he tests negative.

"It's not a law enforcement thing,” Kimbrel said. "It's a teaching thing.

"We've had very few objections from the community over testing. I have had parents request that we test their kids every week, but the program is random."

All prep athletes in San Diego County must use their signature to agree to a code of ethics, which in part states that they must avoid illegal and non-prescription drugs, including anabolic steroids.

At Rancho Buena Vista, parents of only two football players refused to go along with the drug testing plan. Since the plan is voluntary, they were still permitted to play.

Thanks to head coach Tom Haman's drug-testing proposal, about 150 Longhorns football players have been tested for marijuana and methamphetamines so far. The team trainer administers the test and the results are known in less than five minutes.

The school purchased 200 kits at $1.10 each. Another $150 was spent on specimen cups, meaning the start-up cost was less than $400.

A positive test during the season results in expulsion from the team, again because the player will have violated the code of ethics. An athlete whose test is positive outside of the football season, though, does not get kicked off the team. Instead, he's assigned to a drug education class. The trainer, the athlete, his parents and Haman are the only ones who know.

"We've gotten a lot of contact from other schools outside our district and inside it as well, and even some of the other teams on campus have inquired about it,” Haman said. "The biggest benefit is it takes the pressure off the kids. Now they have a reason to say no if they're at a party.

"We've found there are no cliques among the players, and they're closer than ever because they know they're all clean."

The RBV parents have overwhelmingly approved of the program, according to Haman. He says a survey he conducted found that 96 percent of the football parents thought the program had a positive effect on their child, 87 percent thought it reduced peer pressure, 96 percent thought it created a level playing field, 96 percent felt their child no longer worried about teammates who are using drugs, and 95 percent wanted the program to be continued.

"I'm not saying this will make us a better team," Haman said. "The goal is to get players through high school without using drugs and maybe they'll be less likely to do drugs after graduation.

"We're teaching, and that's what high school is all about.”

Privacy problems?

As for the debate over whether or not an athlete's privacy would be invaded by testing, Frank Marrero is flabbergasted.

"No parent will want to walk the path my wife and I have been on,” he said. "The pain in your heart from losing a child this way never goes away. If your child is upset because you tested him, that's such a small thing compared to losing that child because you didn't know they're using steroids. This is a horrible thing.

"My wife cries every day since Efrain died, and I doubt we'll ever get to the point where we don't cry over his death."

Poway wrestling coach Wayne Branstetter, who has guided the Titans to three state championships, agrees with Marrero.

"You might as well not have a rule if there's no testing,” he said. "Without a guard at the door, the fox will get in the henhouse. The state has taken a good first step, but you need to find a way to enforce it or you'll have lots of leaks.”

The CIF coaches education program will focus the spotlight on steroids and all the tell-tale signs of use.

"Coaches and parents should watch out for things like huge weight gains, acne, a greasier complexion, mood swings, someone who is quick to anger and signs of depression,” said former Fallbrook athletic director Heather Schulte, who still teaches at the school. "Without testing, we may have to follow each athlete's growth pattern from one year to the next.”

Trying to determine if someone is using steroids without a testing program still is going to be very difficult.

"(Steroid use prevention) can't be effective without testing because the kid will just deny, and we have nothing to prove our suspicions,” said La Costa Canyon athletic director John Labeta. "Even if we suspect someone is using, what can we do? Call their mommy?"

Westview football coach Tim White is hoping peer pressure works in favor of discouraging steroid use.

"Kids have to know they're rolling the dice with their lives," White said. "Is instant gratification worth taking a risk with the rest of your life?

"Let's face it, there is no safe steroid out there."

Escondido athletic director and football coach Paul Gomes once worked out with a body-builder who included steroids as a regular part of his training regime. Years later, Gomes' friend is paying the price.

"He's an old man at 40,” Gomes said. "I wouldn't take anything that would endanger my life. You never know what's in those vials and where they came from. None of that stuff is exactly FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved.”

Contact staff writer Terry Monahan at (760) 739-6648 or tmonahan@nctimes.com.