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Anti-doping officials in continued discussions towards eradication of substance use
By Michael Benjamin
One day after facilitating a workshop for local sports administrators at the National Resource Centre, Woolford Avenue, Friday afternoon last, officials of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization (CRADO) convened at the Princess Hotel & Casino, Providence EBD, Saturday morning, to expand on discussions while establishing an itinerary for the next fiscal year.
Representatives from several countries joined their local counterparts at the forum including those from Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The forum also entertained the presence of Manuel Villalobass from Panama.
Dr Adrian Lorde
Maria Jose Pesce Cutri
The delegates settle down for meaningful discussions at the meeting last Saturday
As of the previous day, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Frank Anthony, delivered the keynote address and commenced by welcoming his guests even as he urged them to revel in Guyana’s flora fauna and unique cuisines. He told his guests that Guyana is blessed with several different languages and a distinct culture and expressed the hope that they experience it first-hand.
Minister Anthony further expressed gratitude to members of CRADO for their expression of confidence in selecting Guyana to host the auspicious function. He also lauded the local team, led by Permanent Secretary in his Ministry and CRADO board member, Alfred King, for his acute organizational skills.
Once again, Minister Anthony implored the local stakeholders to broaden the scope of awareness from the level of clubs to national organizations. “We have to devise effective strategies to pass the information around,” said the Sports Minister. He suggested the introduction of the topic at the level of the Caribbean Schools’ Examination Council (CSEC) as a means of strengthening the sensitisation process even as he advised officials to turn their attention to a wider pool of stakeholders. “If we focus solely on competitive athletes we risk ignoring a wider cross section of the population,” advocated Minister Anthony.
Consequently, he called for intensified efforts from among the academic community, at tertiary institutions where a core group could supplement the work of the anti-drug advocates. “Let us collaborate to extend this fight,” Minister Anthony challenged the group.
Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary, Alfred King, was once again the Master of Ceremonies and informed the gathering that Government was fully supportive of efforts to eliminate the scourge of drug use. He urged a comprehensive evaluation of the issue even as he noted that the small pool within the Caribbean region might have precluded an earlier comprehensive evaluation of the issue. He also suggested that officials should endeavour to strengthen CRADO to make it more relevant. “Having built a strong foundation, to my mind, the time is ripe for us to implement a studied approach before moving to influence the support of regional governments,” Mr. Alfred opined.
President of the Guyana Olympics Association (GOA), K A Juman Yassin also delivered brief remarks and commenced by extending a warm welcome to the delegates. He lauded the progress of officials of CRADO over their 5 years existence but feels that much more can be done if their efforts are to be meaningful. He urged the group to engage their Directors so as to enhance positive action towards eradication of ill practices. The GOA boss opined that incorporating the efforts of school administrators might produce the kind of responses sought by CRADO officials. “We need to influence the minds of our youths that dope is not the answer and success does not come easy,” implored Mr. Yassin.
There were also brief remarks by Director of the Latin America Regional Office (WADA), Mrs Maria Jose Pesce Cutriand Chairman (CRADO), Dr Adrian Lorde.
The meeting will allow the officials to review plans while examining the past performance and present objectives of the group in order to shape an agenda for the fiscal year.
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