JADCO to Begin Testing Athletes Soon

Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports (MICYS), Olivia Grange, has said that the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), will begin the process of sample collection soon.
“Our objective is to begin the process of sample collection as soon as possible. Athletes will be tested in and out of competition and in addition, we will also be doing target testing,” she informed today (Jan. 14), at an Anti-Doping Symposium hosted by the JADCO at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
“We are in the process of compiling our national testing pool for all athletes representing Jamaica,” she added, noting that “the database will be able to manage information on our athletes such as testing results and [their] whereabouts”.
According to the Minister, the anti-doping programme will cover all athletes irrespective of sporting discipline. “Our anti-doping effort does not see a difference between the track and field athlete, the cricketer, the footballer and race car driver..all athletes will come under the gambit of our anti-doping programme,” she noted.
The two-day symposium, which concludes tomorrow (Jan.15), will feature a number of workshops covering topics such as prohibitive substances, the doping control process and results management, as well as a panel discussion on drug free sport.
Today’s opening ceremony was also used to launch JADCOs ‘Don’t Need Dope to Cope’ public education campaign, which discourages drug use and promotes sporting achievement through fair means.
“This education programme being launched here this morning is a symbol of our determination to maintain the intensity of our fight against doping in sport, in tandem with the efforts of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). I see this symposium as another step forward in what we in Jamaica have to do to contribute to the international efforts to eliminate the use of drugs in sports,” Minister Grange stated.
Continuing, she asserted that “the Government’s position on doping in sports is clear and uncomplicated. We believe that sports should be dope-free and that all competition everywhere should be performed fairly on a level playing field”.
JADCO was established in 2005 to further Jamaica’s efforts to eradicate doping in sports. In January 2008, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Project was set up to design the legal framework and execute policies, in furtherance of that goal. The Anti-Doping in Sport Act was passed in July 2008.