Hurricanes lock Isaia Walker-Leawere has served a ban from playing all sports for a month after testing positive for cannabis.
The ban started on 5 July and only recently ended on Saturday, 5 August.
Walker-Leawere was red carded against the Fijian Drua on May 6. As a result, he was considered by the judiciary on May 8 to face no suspension or further sanction and was cleared to play the following week.
Two nights later he joined some non-rugby playing friends for the evening as a chance to "wind down" after everything that had happened over the previous few days.
In the course of that evening, Walker-Leawere smoked some cannabis with his friends.
The following Saturday May 13, he was selected for the anti-doping test and tested positive for THC, the main psychoactive found in cannabis.
He did not even think about the fact he had smoked cannabis some three days earlier. He no longer felt affected by the cannabis and had not consumed it in any way associated with the sport.
To reduce his ban, he entered into a treatment programme to address his substance use following the test.
“Provisions for such substances allow athletes to balance a reduced ban with completion of a substance treatment programme,” a spokesperson for Drug Free Sport NZ (DFSNZ) said.
He was granted the one-month ban on the condition he would complete the programme. If he doesn’t, Walker-Leawere will receive a three-month ban.
“We don’t believe that cannabis is performance-enhancing. Getting Mr Walker-Leawere Substance of Abuse support and back into the sport after serving his sanction is the most practical outcome and supports long-term athlete health and wellbeing,” DFSNZ chief executive Nick Paterson said.
“We’ve advocated to remove cannabis from the Prohibited List for over 15 years and will continue to do so.
“However, while cannabis remains on the Prohibited List, the best approach to avoiding a positive test is to avoid using it.”
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