Source: guardian.co.tt
Attorney-at-law Tyrone Marcus, represented the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs at the 2011 Regional anti-doping meeting on the weekend in Paramaribo, Suriname. The Board of the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (Caribbean RADO) met in that capital under the auspices of the Suriname Anti-Doping Authority (SADA). History was also made as all 14 member states attended the two-day meeting to solidify the regional thrust in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and its Code signed by all 14 countries. Member states of the RADO comprise Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, the Bahamas, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Guyana, Suriname, Turks & Caicos Islands, Cayman Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and St Vincent.
In addition to the seventh meeting of the Board, representatives also participated in two important parallel seminars on Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUEs) and Results Management (RM) which were facilitated by officials from WADA and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). The TUE sessions were attended by medical doctors representing each member country with the aim of gaining a better understanding of the process of granting permission to athletes to use medications for
medical reasons as stipulated under WADA’s guidelines. Marcus, the Ministry of Sport senor legal advisor also participated. In the Results Management seminar were lawyers from the region who are expected to convene Results Management Committees to deal with adverse analytical findings found in doping control samples and oversee the appeals process.
The gathering of representatives from the region helped to crystallize regional anti-doping education and doping controls giving all attendees a clearer sense of their roles and responsibilities with the sole aim of ensuring that athletes from their countries are drug-free and playing fairly and cleanly. Chairman of the Caribbean RADO, Dr. Adrian Lorde, as well as Tom May, Senior Manager, Programme Development at WADA, expressed their sincerest appreciation to the Surinamese Government, and to SADA, specifically to Michael Watson, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sports and to Clifton Keenswijk, Board member for Suriname and Manager of SADA, for graciously hosting the 3-day event. Also providing excellent technical capacity was Maria Jose Pesce Cutri Director of WADA’s Regional office in Montevideo, Uruguay. Meanwhile, the Ministry’s final Anti-Doping Awareness seminar for secondary school students takes place this morning from 11 am to 1 pm at Mayaro Sport Arena, Plaisance Road, Mayaro.