PDEA orders mandatory drug tests for college athletes

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)  on Monday said it would require mandatory drug testing for college athletes,  its official said over   Radyo Inquirer 990AM.

PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon said  the  directive was issued by PDEA Director General Undersecretary Arturo Cacdac Jr after two members of the Far Eastern University (FEU) basketball team were caught smoking marijuana by the police within Manila’s university belt area.

Carreon said it was unfortunate that college basketball players were involved in illegal drugs and that was the reason why they sought to stamp out such cases becaude these athletes “are popular—they are looked up to… This is alarming that they were caught using marijuana.”

“It would be better to conduct regular and mandatory drug tests. We want to make sure these athletes are drug-free,” he said.