WEST ORANGE, N.J. — New Jersey high school athletes whose teams qualify for championship games will face random testing for steroids under a first-in-the-nation plan announced Tuesday by acting Gov. Richard J. Codey. Beginning next fall, athletes who test positive will be barred from playing in championship games and could face a yearlong ban from school sports. Codey, a Democrat who leaves office next month when Jon Corzine is sworn in, said he would like to see random testing for steroids and other drugs extended to all students — not just those on sports teams — within two to three years. “This is a growing health threat, one we can’t leave up to individual parents, coaches or schools to handle,” Codey said at Seton Hall Preparatory Academy. The governor cited statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which found 3.4 percent of all high school seniors nationwide admitted to using steroids at least once last year. Among eighth-graders, that figure was nearly 2 percent. Codey said he recommended restricting the testing to athletes preparing for championship games to see how well it works. If the program is successful, he said, it could be expanded to regular-season athletics and even students who do not participate in athletics. New Jersey’s drug-testing initiative is the first of its kind for a state, according to Gary Makowicki, executive director of the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. “You’ve seen some initiatives from some individual schools, but I’ve never seen anything like this,” Makowicki said. It will cost about $50,000, to be paid by the state, Codey said. Peter King, who covers the NFL for Sports Illustrated, described steroid use among high school athletes as “a secret society.” “There’s one thing out there that should keep them from even thinking of using steroids, and that’s the disgrace of a positive test on the eve of a championship event,” he said. Lisa Brady, superintendent of the South Hunterdon Regional High School, which subjects all of its students to random drug testing, said such tests help students stand up to fierce peer pressure to use illegal substances. “Random drug testing gives our kids a reason to say no,” she said.

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