Speech by Ally Ladha on Drug Abuse (5th April 2007)

Did you see the 2000 Summer Olympics? If you did then you know that Andreea Raucan got the gold metal in gymnastics for Romania. Then the International Olympic Committee found pseudo ephedrine in her system. When the people found out, they took away her gold medal. Andreea said that she had a cold and that she got medicine with pseudo ephedrine. A lot of people didn’t think it was fair. They thought it is rude to take away the medal because she had a cold. It might be a drug that makes you better at sports, but it did not even help her. The International Olympic Committee said they have to follow the rules, therefore striping the Romanian from her title. The above example was of a Romanian lady who got her medal taken away but during the 1980’s, Ben Johnson was a famous Canadian runner that set two world records for the 100-meter dash. 9.38 seconds was his first record in 1987. In 1988 he set a record of 9.79 seconds. In Seoul, Korea Ben Johnson raced American runner Carl Lewis for the 1988 Olympics. They have raced against each other 15 times from 1980-1988. Carl Lewis won 9 times and Ben Johnson won 6 times. In the 1988 Olympics, Ben Johnson won the gold medal. Two days after Ben Johnson got his metal, he got it taken away. He got it taken away because he had taken steroids. Then both of his world records were erased from the world records books. In this example we saw Ben’s records being the best records in running to nothing in running because of his addiction to steroids. What are Steroids and what can they do to your body? A steroid is an illegal drug that will make you stronger. If you are a swimmer or another athlete they will make you stronger. A weight lifter will become better and stronger. You can also practice longer and lift heaver weights. Athletes get there medal taken away if they use steroids. That is because it is unfair to the other athletes. Taking steroids in the Olympics is like cheating. Carl Lewis could have beaten Ben Johnson if he took steroids, too. But the dangers of using steroids outweigh the benefits. In most sports competitions, athletes are warned not to take steroids. If you are caught taking steroids your medal will be taken away, but it not necessary that your medal will be taken away you can also be thrown out of the league or be banned from playing a sport for some months. Rio Ferdinand is a professional soccer player, before the 2002 world cup his England teammates had to take a drug test and if they were tested positive they would be omitted form the squad, and as Ferdinand was taking steroids to make the team he missed the drug test and that made the F.A suspicious, he was told to report to the hospital for a test, without his team mates, and he was tested positive for steroids, therefore he was thrown out of the England squad and was also banned for playing soccer for 8 months. Another excellent soccer player was axed by his team, Mateja Kezman of Chelsea was tested positive for Steroids too and was discharged from Chelsea and immediately sent back to Romania. By looking at their idols and by watching sports many teenage boys want to be as strong as Batsista or they want to be as huge as Yao Ming, and what better way to grow muscles fast then the use of steroids. They use a kind of steroids called anabolic steroids. These kinds of steroids make them grow faster. Anabolic steroids make your body more muscular. Steroids are a chemical shortcut to help you grow. The problem with them is that they can make you violent and very depressed. One in every fifteen teenagers uses steroids. That adds up to 500,000 teenagers! Addiction to steroids starts from young age, reportedly in America steroid users started using this drug when they were in grade 9 and because of the early start they are addicted to it and over 1.1% of 9th graders are reported to be using drugs throughout their lifetime. Michael was 15 years old and he felt very small and weak compared to other boys. He got picked on and teased by other kids. He soon began to work out a lot. He built up his muscles so when he was 16 years old he weighed 165 pounds and was 5 feet 9 inches tall. Still, Michael wanted to be bigger. That was when he found out about anabolic steroids and illegally bought some at a local gym. Soon, he weighed more, 195 pounds. Because Michael took steroids, he had violent mood swings. He would get angry over little things. Friends and family noticed he was depressed a lot. When he was 17 years old, he shot himself with a rifle. At just age 17 Michael lost his life because of a killer drug, His sister said, "Steroids pulled the trigger." When Aaron was 17, he had been taking steroids for 5 years. He was the star of the football team, but still had terrible health problems. He had violent mood swings and was really depressed a lot. Still, he could not stop taking the steroids. One night, he swallowed a whole bottle of medicine trying to kill himself. Soon he was rushed to the hospital. Luckily, he did not die. Some medical tests showed steroids caused damage to Aaron’s liver, kidneys, and stomach. "If you do not quit steroids, you will die," a doctor warned him. Aaron listened to the doctor this time and quit taking steroids. At the age of 20, Aaron works to warn other people about the risks of taking steroids. Here are some words from Aaron’s speech at his high school: "I took steroids because I did not believe in myself. I learned the hard way that what matters is how you feel about yourself, not what others think about you. What others think fades away. But what you feel inside last as long as you live." Do you know that steroids can also be good for you? Doctors give them to you for rashes and allergies. Did you know that asthma is the most common kid disease in the whole world? Five million kids in the U.S. get it. Certain steroids are a safe way to treat asthma in kids, but they do have side effects. There are some good things about steroids and so many bad things. A good thing is it can treat asthma safely. A bad thing is that your kidneys, liver, and stomach can be destroyed. Too many steroids can destroy your mind. If people take illegal steroids, they will have mood swings. You can be very violent or depressed so much that you might kill yourself. Steroids are taken to strengthen muscles, but they can damage them, too. Steroids can cause heart disease and cancer. They can also make a young child stop growing.

Speech by Adil Lalani on Drug Abuse (5th April 2007)

I am going to talk about the effects of drugs in sports and how it can ruin a person’s life or career. But firstly we need to know what kind of drugs I am talking about?? We all know that drugs are not necessarily a good thing, some can be harmful. DIFFERENT DRUGS HAVE DIFFERENT EFFECTS Stimulants : Drugs which act on the central nervous system and increase brain activity. Examples include Cocaine; Crack; Ecstasy; Poppers; Speed and Tobacco. Depressants : Drugs which act on the central nervous system and slow down brain activity. Examples include Alcohol; Gases; Glues and Aerosols; GHB; Tranquillisers. Hallucinogens : Drugs which act on the mind, distorting the way users see and hear things. Examples include Cannabis; Ketamine; LSD; Magic Mushrooms. Analgesics: Drugs which have a painkilling effect. Examples include Heroin. Anabolic Steroids: These drugs promote the growth of skeletal muscle and increase lean body mass DRUGS: What do you think of the following drugs? Should they all be banned? Alcohol causes domestic and street violence. It kills thousands on the roads every year. It should be made illegal. Nicotine is one of the world’s biggest killers. Smokers put a huge strain on health services. Cigarettes and other tobacco products should be banned. Cocaine and heroin are lethal killers. Anyone caught dealing in or using them should go to prison for 25 years. A few examples of famous sport stars whose careers were spoilt by taking drugs are: One of the famous cases, Diego Armando Maradona, an Argentinean soccer player, whose career included plenty of controversy: he was suspended for 15 months in 1991 after testing positive for cocaine, suspended again in 1994 after failing another drug test, and ran up an unpaid income tax bill in Italy that eventually exceeded 30 million Euros. Photos of Maradona looking blown up and decidedly unathletic were commonplace in the 1990s, and he survived a heart attack in 2004, but he never quite lost the public's affection. Apart from all this, in 2005 he began hosting his own television show in Argentina titled La Noche del Diez, or "The Night of the Number Ten." Australia's leading wicket-taker Shane Warne was suspended from cricket for 12 months after the player tested positive for a banned diuretic/ causing increased urine output How do drugs affect Athletes Specifically? -Their performance falls. -It affects their timing, movements and coordination. -They can become fat or obese and loose stamina. Stamina is one of the most important things in sports. Hence, drugs + sports = your disadvantage. Let us get back to a more general concept, Do Drugs Affect School, Sports, or Other Activities? Obviously, as we have heard over and over again, drugs do affect ones memory, judgment and sensitivity. How many people in this room have tried drinking? How many in here have taken drugs before? We never realize it in the midst of relaxation and feeling high that it all has its drawbacks. Drugs can make you mess up in school, in sports, or with your friends. If you’re high on Drugs, you are more likely to make mistakes that could not only embarrass or even hurt you but also affect those around you. If drugs are used excessively, you could start losing interest in school, work and at times sports mainly because you are too high to care. Since, drugs can affect judgment and decision making; its use can lead to risky sexual behavior, resulting in careless sex which also causes the increase of pregnancy and an unhealthy child as a product or the increase in the number of abortions. It can also lead to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV (AIDS). Each year drug abuse results in around 40 million serious illnesses or injuries (I repeat 40million serious illnesses or injuries) among people in the United States, forget the rest of the world, its 40 million injuries, lives, losses of family members just in the United States. Think about it. We are all subjected to peer pressure, drugs, alcohol and crack, but its our choice, Do you want to be one of those people that add up to the 40 million people that get injured and die? Do you want to be one of those, who get what they want out of their lives such as success in sports or even any other career and give it all up for 5, 10 minutes say 1 hour of pleasure? It is up to you!

DEBISCO - 10th March 2007

DEBISCO 2007 The Ismaili Youths and Sports Committee with the Gavel Club organized a debate and disco, “DEBISCO” on the 10th of March 2007 at the Hellenic Club for the youths of the ages between 14 and 25. On the night, 8 participants representing their countries named below fought for the title “The President of the World”. They were required to use their skills to solve their countries problems and use the countries benefits to their own advantage as a means to support their campaign to become “The President of the World”

Mr. Kamal Khimji awards the winner,

President Aneesa Jaffer

Bahadur Jaffer – The President of Afghanistan Irfan Virji – The President of USA Sameer Hirji – The President of Somalia Malika Ladha – The President of Russia Nausheen Sumar – The President of Tanzania Aneesa Jaffer – the President of Iran Alisha Manji – The President of Cuba Sakina Kanji – The President of Iraq

Gavel Club members participating and discussing.

The lovely audience of the youth and the youthful!

President of Iraq, Miss Sakina Kanji, presents her case.

Aneesa Jaffer, the president of Iran, through her persuasive skills and self confidence, managed to convince the judges and the audience that she was best fit for the title “The President of the World”.

Youth Convenor Farnaz Gulamhussein presents a participant with a token of thanks.

Participants deep in discussion after the program

Shama Jamal, President of the Gavel Club, in full ceremonial tie and huge earrings.

Immediate Ex-President of the Gavel Club, Fehzan Dhalla, in attendance

Councillor Fayaz Bhojani gives a short talk.

After the debate, the music got everyone dancing!