WORKSHOP TARGETS ATHLETES' IGNORANCE ABOUT DRUGS

ATHLETES need more than 'just say no' to drugs and alcohol, according
to a recent medical study, and the Sport Medicine Council of Manitoba
has something practical to offer them.

At the first Provincial Drug Education Training Workshop for athlete
support personnel today at the University of Manitoba, about 100
coaches, therapists and strength trainers who work directly with
athletes will learn a decision-making process that they will then
share with athletes.

Dr. Dean Kriellaars said the four-hour interactive workshop will
focus on helping athletes make better decisions regarding drugs,
alcohol and supplements.

"We want to make sure that we equip all of our front-line people in
Manitoba, with an ability to help athletes with this information,"
said Kriellaars, a U of M professor who is the chairman of Manitoba's
Drugs in Sport committee. "Right now they really don't know how to
actually answer the questions that are related to drugs and supplements."

Kriellaars said two factors prompted the workshop. Once was the
recently publication in a journal for Canadian athletes of the
findings of University of Calgary researchers that athletes' primary
source of information was from friends and family. The other was the
statistic from the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport that there
were 20 positive tests for marijuana of the 24 positive tests among
athletes for banned substances in 2005.

He said athletes' third-line sources for information are therapists
and strength trainers who, after this workshop, will be equipped with
"the skill set to counsel athletes on any substance." The workshop's
main feature will be a seven-point model, developed by Kriellaars.
The athlete, or anyone else, plugs a substance name into the model
and answers seven questions about it. The answers are evaluated and
an informed choice can then be made whether to take the substance.

"Telling them to 'just say no' isn't enough anymore. If a joint is
being passed in front of them, they need an excuse to pass it by, in
the face of the time pressure and the peer pressure. They can say, 'I
can't because of this reason,' " he said.

The marijuana issue is particularly troubling, Kriellaars said, as
most athletes don't know the punishment for testing positive for it.

"It has big repercussions now," Kriellaars said. If you get a
positive drug test for marijuana in Canada in sport, it could
influence you legally down the line. A lot of athletes don't
understand that. Once their names are on a website by Canadian sport
agencies, the U.S. government at customs may not wish to let them
into their country, or any other country for that matter."

He said at the website www.ccef.ca, anyone can view a report listing
the names of all the Canadian athletes who have tested positive for
marijuana and this could impact any athlete attempting to participate
in international competition.

"They are identified pot-users," he said. "It could make them persona
non grata in another country."