1 next year.

And the arrival in the Island this week of 24-year-old Canadian Thomas May means that the Bermuda Council for Drug Free Sport's endeavours to get the programme underway will have been enhanced immeasurably.

May, of St. John, New Brunswick, is here on a six-month internship and will assist Benedict Associates and the Council in preparing clear rules and guidelines for the final phase of its drug-free initiatives.

"We are very excited, it's the first time ever that we have had somebody like Tom join it. He is here to assist the council and of course what Benedict has been placed to do,'' said psychologist Vaughn Mosher, managing director of of Benedict Associates.

"Now that the council has evolved and we have policies, procedures and all that in place, now is exactly the right time to be getting the last bits in place for January.'' The full programme was originally set to start by April 1 of this year, but it was delayed to allow a database of athletes, as requested by a number of associations, to be compiled.

As of April 1 the council had started three of the four types of drug testing: competition, pre-travel and pre-selection testing.

"We were ready to implement the random testing as well, which will be about 10 per cent of each sporting body, but we have been requested by some to hold on that,'' said Mosher.

"Just to identify who would be a member, who would be a participant and who would not be required is a lot of work, and also many of the associations wanted to have more information and more awareness education. Therefore, the council decided to hold that back until January.'' Getting the vital information together will involve working with each sport governing body to ascertain the memberships. Those people will become part of the pool from which the BCDFS will randomly select each year.

May, for his part is optimistic that the project will be completed in the time-frame.

He is happy with the success of Canada's own programme -- set up about 10 years ago -- and is confident that Bermuda's will produce similar results.

"Yes, our programme is great and is one that is widely accepted by all of the sports organisations throughout the country,'' he said. "We are currently testing quite a few athletes a year; most of the athletes know that it's coming and it's working as a deterrent in terms of using performance enhancing drugs and other drugs.

"We very rarely have problems with it and now that people are accepting it, they are hoping to get it placed internationally so the whole world will be competing on an equal base.'' May attended University and took a graduate diploma in sports administration before becoming involved in the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports.

He applied for internships there and went through a tough interviewing programme to earn his place in Bermuda.

"I am here to help,'' he said. "The policies and programmes are already in place here. I am here to add an extra hand because the Island is just getting the gist of the drug and education programme.

"Sport is an important aspect of a community and a culture and in a small Island such as Bermuda you want to be able to portray the image of a drug free environment and drug free sport. Programmes like these open up many avenues: this could bring in some business opportunities, people will be more willing to become associated with associations and be willing to help out the whole image of the sport.''