The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) has received the final report of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concerning Veronica Campbell-Brown’s adverse analytical finding. JADCO acknowledges that some procedures carried out in the sample collection process on May 4, 2013, at the Jamaica Invitational Meet at the National Stadium, in Kingston, Jamaica were inconsistent with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) International Standards. Specifically, no partial sample kits were used in the collection process.

We therefore, take this opportunity to state that there is no documentation in existence at JADCO, indicating that WADA gave the Commission permission to deviate from the standard, which is applicable to all signatories of the WADA Code.

Currently, the restructured JADCO, working in concert with its recently appointed Chairman and Board of Commissioners, continues to refine and upgrade its operational procedures to remove any weaknesses in the system. As a result, we are continuing to recruit qualified employees to fill the necessary staff vacancies and assist in improving JADCO’s testing capabilities and public education programme.

In order to further strengthen the capacity of its testing programme, JADCO has taken the necessary steps to fully adhere to all the WADA International Standards, as we are now in possession of the partial sample kits.  We have also trained two additional Doping Control Officers (DCOs) and we are currently in the process of recruiting additional DCOs and Chaperones and recertifying our current doping control personnel.

In its on-going effort to further build capacity, JADCO is partnering with the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). JADCO and CCES will be signing a Joint Initiative Agreement shortly, for a period of 15 months through which CCES will provide guidance, training and technical assistance to JADCO.  This will enable JADCO to benefit from the experience of  a  National  Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO)  with  over  twenty  years  of  anti-doping knowledge and expertise.

JADCO, in  partnership with  the  Jamaica Athletics  Administrative Association  (JAAA)  recently successfully conducted five regional Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshops for secondary school athletes and their support personnel. JADCO’s public education programme is on-going and will continue to focus on providing the requisite anti-doping information to all athletes, especially those in the JADCO‘s National Registered Testing Pool.

Furthermore, the Government of Jamaica, in continuing to strengthen its commitment to preserving integrity in  sport  has  recently approved a  63%  increase in  budgetary support to  JADCO for the 2014/2015 financial year.

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