Since November 2011, Albania enjoys the status of a country whose rules are completely compliant with the WADA Code, by being among the first signatories of the Copenhagen Declaration for recognition of WADA Anti-Doping Code and by the ratification of the UNESCO International Convention against. Doping in Sport by Law no. 9623, dated 16.10.2006 (Monitoring Group, 2015). Nevertheless, according to the report, adopted at the 42nd meeting of the Monitoring Group of the Anti-doping Convention, on May 2015 in Strasbourg, Albania has not yet satisfactory fulfilled the obligations under the Anti-Doping Convention, even though the political commitment has been met (Monitoring Group, 2015).
Among the many recommendations, presented in the report, a primary focus is given to anti-doping education programmes. The obligation of the Albanian NADC (National Anti-Doping Committee) to design and co-ordinate the implementation of such programmes is imminent, because it is now acknowledged that investment in long-term, values-based education programmes may be more appropriate than detection-based deterrence activities (Backhouse et al., 2012). According to the report (Monitoring Group, 2015), all other stakeholders (like, for example, the national sport federations, the National Olympic Committee, Sports University of Tirana and possibly other institutions) should cooperate closely with the Albanian NADC towards the implementation of anti-doping educational and information programmes among their athletes. Especially, Sports University of Tirana, a well established academic institution that conducts research in many areas of sports sciences, should play an important consultative role. As a matter of fact, during their visit in Tirana, the Evaluation Team gave special attention to the hearing from the academics of their views on how the University should support the fight against doping in the country, especially in the field of education. This paper provides a commentary on the report’s recommendations about educational and information anti-doping strategies, along with world-wide academics views on strategies in the fight against doping.