Deputy Drug Czar Discusses Olympic Drug Testing

   Portland, Ore.

WHEN:

9 to 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, November 13

WHERE:

OHSU Hospital (meet in the hospital lobby)

Donald Vereen, Jr., M.D., former deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, who stepped down from his position October 31, 2001, will be available for a media roundtable discussion on new drug testing procedures for the upcoming 2002 Olympics Winter Games from 9 to 9:30 a.m. at Oregon Health & Science University.

Vereen is in town to address OHSU healthcare professionals about the latest anti-doping procedures for athletes at the invitation of the OHSU School of Medicine's Division of Health Promotion and Sports Medicine. OHSU researchers Linn Goldberg, M.D., and Diane Elliot, M.D., also will be present for the discussion.

Nearly all of the 2,500 athletes competing in the February 2002 Salt Lake City Games will be tested before the games for approximately 400 substances banned by the International Olympic Committee. Another 800 will be tested again during competition. Athletes' urine samples will be put through nearly a dozen tests in order to detect such substances as narcotics, stimulants, steroids, beta blockers, diuretics and several others.

Vereen joined the Office of National Drug Control Policy in 1998. Prior to his appointment he served as special assistant to the director for medical affairs at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institutes of Health. While at NIDA, Vereen had oversight for the development of new research partnerships with the criminal justice, treatment and prevention communities, including research addressing the relationship between drugs and violence.

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OHSU Communications
503 494-8231