Slides and charts have been created. Officials have been assigned to answer questions and a public awareness campaign will begin in earnest in the next couple of weeks.

Welcome to Drug Education 101.

Next Wednesday, a select few athletes will begin to be tested for illicit drugs. A month later, testing of ten percent of all Island sports participants will begin, an average of close to 20 a day for a full year.

In either case, a positive test will mean banishment from all sports for a full year. Get caught twice, and it's three years.

Are athletes prepared? Or more importantly, do they even know about it? According to those responsible for spreading the word, the answer is yes. And if not, they soon will be.

"There's really a lot of excitement about this,'' says Vaughn Mosher, who heads Benedict Associates, the Island firm responsible for the testing and rehabilitation of athletes.

"Most people I've talked to have the attitude of `At last, Bermuda has really needed this.' You get the odd negative individual but the vast majority are for it.'' Adds Jon Beard, chairman of the Bermuda Council for Drug-free Sports' educational committee: "I've spoken to a number of coaches and they've all told their players that they have to make some life choices.'' In addition to Beard and Mosher, other members of the committee are Denise Kyme, Neville Tyrrell, Lou Matthews and a pair of David Beans, one involved in motocross, the other with PHC.

Their job: Make athletes aware of testing procedures, the ideas behind it and what happens if they're caught.

"There are some people out there who aren't sure what's happening and that's where we come in,'' said Beard.

When it comes to elite athletes, the message is largely understood. But it's when random testing kicks in, probably towards the end of May, that misconceptions arise. Random testing was supposed to begin on April 1 but was delayed while the database is compiled by the Ministry.

Beard concedes the extra month or two "makes it a heck of a lot easier'' for his committee to get the word out.

"The information is there, what we have to do is disseminate it clearly,'' he said.

For the average Bermuda resident, learning that they will be tested for drugs has mostly been the result of a trickle-down effect -- from 40 pages of fine print distributed through their national body -- or hearsay.

For instance, Beard says, there is not "some sort of Gestapo'' that will drive up to a match and pull an athlete off the field in order to get a urine sample.

"We're not a police force,'' he said. "We're not taking anybody to court and we're not talking to Immigration.'' Beard admits the inconvenience associated with the new policy is "going to take a while to fit in'' to the sports lifestyle. But he likens drug testing to another issue that overtook Bermuda on January 1, 1977.

That was the date crash helmets became mandatory for motorcyclists. Despite the outcry that took place before it, "it's never been an issue since,'' he said.

Asked how many positive tests he anticipates, Mosher points to an estimate he came up with one and a half years ago.

A general survey indicated that 8-10 percent of the public used drugs. "I said at the time the sports population would be a lot less, maybe one or two percent .. . (and) I see no reason to change that.'' SPORTS SP