The Bernstein High School football program in Hollywood, California has a few problems.Some minor, but one is major.

The small problems are things like failing to fully vet their coaches before putting young people in their care, failing to get permits for team practice, and forgoing grade checks to confirm students are academically eligible to play.

What could go wrong with such lax oversight?

Well, according to the Los Angeles Times, something mind-boggling can go wrong.

Allegations that two students at Bernstein High in Hollywood spiked the water at a junior varsity football practice with a male enhancement drug prompted an investigation that led to the dismissal of varsity coach Luis Barajas.

The investigation of the July 12 incident discovered that Barajas had failed to notify school officials or parents that players had possibly ingested contaminated water until two weeks later, according to a report The Times obtained through the Public Records Act.

[…]

“No parent complaints were received at Bernstein, school police [were] not involved, no testing of the alleged contaminated water took place and there [were] no student illness reports,” according to a statement by the general counsel’s office for Los Angeles Unified School District.

District spokeswoman Barbara A. Jones said in an email on Tuesday that parents were not notified because the district “did not find evidence that any student actually drank the contaminated water.”

She said no testing of the water took place because it had been discarded by the time the allegation was reported.

Dr. Richard Ferkel, a San Fernando Valley-based orthopedic surgeon, said it would be difficult to determine the potential danger if a teenager ingested a male enhancement drug without knowing how much was digested. He said if anyone was taking medication with nitrates because of high blood pressure, consumption of a male enhancement drug could produce a change in blood pressure.

A quick search of the internets on what a “male enhancement drug” does for a person found no mentions of improved football skills. In fact, all the alleged benefits seem to do things high schoolers need no help doing.

I guess when student athletes face stiff competition they’ll try anything.

***BTW – Bernstein High was the filming site for the popular television show “Glee.”***

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